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i^  .  9-0  .  o. 


from  i^t  &i6rari5  of 

(ptofcBBor  ^atnuef  Otiffer 

in  (Wlemori?  of 

3ubge  ^amuef  (BXiffet  QSrecftinttbge 

(J}te0enf eb  6l? 

^(imuef  Ottffet  (jBrecftinribge  feon^ 

to  f ^e  feifimri?  of 

gprinceton  ^geofogicaf  ^emindr^ 


S«:S<S^ 


k'l  ( 


"*(i:.^i: 


THEOLOGICAL  DICTIONARY 

CONTAINING 

DEFINITIONS  OF  ALL  RELIGIOUS  TERMS} 

A  COMPJIEHENSIVE 

VIEW  OF  EVERY  ARTICLE 

IN    THE 

SYSTEM  OF  DIVINITY; 

AN 

IMPARTIAL  ACCOUNT 

OF 

ALL  THE  PRINCIPAL  DENOMINATIONS 

which  have  subsisted  in  the 

RELIGIOUS  WORLD, 

FROM 

THE  BIRTH  OF  CHRIST  TO   THE  PRESEJ^T  DAY. 

TOGETHER    WITH 

AN  ACCURATE  STATEMENT 

OF 

The  most  remarkable  Transactions  and  Events 

Recorded  in  Ecclesiastical  History. 


U 


BY  CHARLES  BUCK. 


IN  TWO  VOLUMES, 


VOL.  L 

FIRST   AMERICAN,   FROM    THE    SECOND    LONDON,   EDITION. 

COSiteJall: 

PRINTED  FOR  W.  W.  WOODWARD, 

NO.  52,  CORNER    OF  CHESNUT   AND    SECOND  STREETS,   PHILADELPHIV, 

1807. 

DICKINSON,    raiNTEa. 


PREFACE. 


It  was  an  diservation  of  one  of  the  wisest  of  men,  "  that  the  soul  be 
wWiout  knowledge,  it  is  not  good."  Knowledge,  in  a  great  measure,  forms  the 
true  dignity  and  happiness  of  man :  It  is  that  by  wliich  he  holds  an  honourable 
rank  in  the  scale  of  being,  and  by  which  he  is  rendered  capable  of  adding  to  the 
felicity  of  liis  fellow-creatures.  Every  attempt,  therefore,  to  enlarge  its  bounda- 
ries, and  facilitate  its  acquisition,  must  be  considered  as  worthy  of  our  attention 
and  regard.  The  present  Work  is  designed  to  promote  these  valuable  and  im- 
portant ends. 

The  plan  of  conveying  knowledge  by  dictionaries  has  been  long  estaWisbed, 
and  well  received  in  the  republic  of  letters.  A  dictionary,  however,  of  a  reli- 
gious and  ecclesiastical  nature  was  still  a  desideratum  in  the  religious  world;  for 
although  we  have  had  dictionaries  which  explained  scripture  terms,  yet  it  is  evi- 
dent these  could  not  embrace  the  history  of  the  church  since  the  sacred  canon  wa» 
concluded,  nor  explain  the  many  terms  which  have  been  used;  nor,  indeed, 
point  out  the  various  sects  and  denominations  which  have  subsisted  since  that 
time.  I  do  not  mean,  by  these  remarks,  to  depreciate  the  valuable  Works  above 
referred  to :  1  am  sensible  of  their  excellencies,  and  I  have  no  wish  to  undervalue 
them  in  order  to  exalt  my  own.  This  Work,  however,  is  of  a  difierent  nature, 
as  the  Reader  will  easily  see,  if  he  take  the  trouble  to  compare  and  examine. 

There  may,  doubtless,  be  defects  m  this  publication  which  may  have  escaped 
my  attention ;  but  whoever  considers  the  various  books  that  must  have  been  con- 
sulted ;  the  discriminations  that  were  necessary  to  be  made ;  the  patient  investi- 
gation required;  and  the  toil  of  selecting,  transcribing,  and  composing,  must  be 
convinced  that  it  has  been  attended  with  no  small  difficulty.  The  advancages, 
however,  which  my  own  mind  derived  from  the  Work,  and  the  probability  of  its 
being  useful  to  others,  greatly  encouraged  me  in  its  prosecution.  Besides,  to  be 
active,  to  be  useful,  to  do  something  for  the  good  of  mankind,  I  have  always 
considered  as  the  honour  of  an  intelligent  being.  It  is  not  the  student  wrapt  up 
in  metaphysical  subtilties;  it  is  not  the  recluse  living  in  perpetual  solitude;  it  is 
not  the  miser  who  is  continually  amassing  wealth,  tliat  can  be  considered  as  the 
greatest  ornaments  or  the  greatest  blessings  to  human  society  :-it  is  rather  the 
useful  than  the  ihining  talent  that  is  to  be  coveted. 


IV  PREFACE. 

Perhaps  it  may  be  said,  the  Work  is  tinctured  too  much  with  my  own  senti- 
ments, and  that  the  theology  is  too  antiquated  to  please  a  Uberal,  philosophizing, 
and  refined  age.  In  answer  to  this,  I  observe,  that  I  could  do  no  other,  as  an 
honest  man,  than  communicate  what  I  believed  to  be  the  tmth.  Itis  a  false  libe- 
rality to  acquiesce  with  every  man's  opinion,  to  fall  in  with  every  man's  scheme, 
to  trifle  with  error,  or  imagine  there  is  no  difference  between  one  sentiment  and 
another ;  yet,  notwithstanding  this  declaration,  I  trust  the  features  of  bigotry 
are  not  easily  discernible  in  this  Work ;  and  that,  while  I  have  endeavoured  to 
carry  the  torch  of  Truth  in  my  hand,  I  have  not  forgotten  to  walk  in  the  path  of 
Candour, 

It  is  almost  needless  here  to  say,  that  I  have  availed  myself  of  all  the  writings 
of  the  best  and  most  eminent  authors  1  could  obtain.  Whatever  has  struck  me 
as  of  importance  in  ecclesiastical  history ;  whatever  good  and  accurate  in  defi- 
nition ;  whatever  just  views  of  the  passions  of  the  human  mind ;  whatever  terms 
used  in  the  religious  world ;  and  whatever  instructive  and  impressive  in  the  sys- 
tems of  divinity  and  moral  philosophy,  I  have  endeavoured  to  incorporate  in  this 
Work.  And  in  order  to  prevent  its  being  a  dr}  detail  of  terms  and  of  dates,  I 
have  given  the  substance  of  what  has  been  generaD)'^  advanced  on  each  subject, 
and  occasionally  selected  some  of  tlie  most  interesting  and  practical  passages 
from  our  best  and  celebrated  sermons.  1  trust,  therefore,  it  will  not  only  be  of 
use  to  inform  the  mind,  but  impress  the  heart ;  and  thus  promote  the  real  good  of 
the  Reader.  I'he  Critic,'  however,  may  be  disposed  to  be  severe ;  and  it  will, 
perhaps,  be  easy  for  him  to  obsene  miperfections.  But  be  this  as  it  may  :  I  can 
assure  him  I  feel  myself  happy  in  the  idea  that  the  Work  is  not  intended  to  serve 
a  party,  to  encourage  bigotry,  or  strengthen  prejudice,  but  "  for  the  sendee  of 
Truth,  by  one  who  would  be  glad  to  attend  and  grace  her  triumphs;  as  her 
soldier,  if  he  has  had  the  honour  to  serve  successfully  under  her  banner ;  or  as  a 
captive  tied  to  her  chariot-wheels,  if  he  has,  though  undesignedly,  committed 
any  offence  against  her."  After  all,  however,  what  a  learned  author  said  of  an- 
other work  I  say  of  this:—"  Jf  jt  have  merit  it  will  go  down  to  posterity ;  if  it 

have  none,  the  sooner  it  die*  and  is  forgot  the  better." 

C.B. 


A 


THEOLOGICAL  DICTIONARY. 


A 


ABB 

ABBA,  a  Syrlac  word, signify- 
m^Fcither.  Itis  more  particu- 
larly used  in  the  Syriac,  Coptic,  and 
Ethiopic  churches,  as  a  title  given 
to  the  bishops.  The  bishops  them- 
selves bestowed  the  title  Abbamore 
eminently  on  the  bishop  of  Alexan- 
dria, which  occasioned  the  people 
to  give  him  the  titlie  of  Baba,  or 
Papa;  that  is,  Grandfather:  a  title 
which  he  bore  before  the  bishop  of 
Rome.  It  is  a  Jewish  title  of 
honour  given  to  certain  Rabbins 
called  Tanaites  :  it  is  also  used  by 
some  writers  of  the  middle  age 
for  the  superior  of  a  monastery. 
Saint  Mark  and  Saint  Paul  use  this 
word  in  their  Greek,  Markxiv,  36. 
Rom.  viii,  15.  Gal.  iv,  6,  because 
it  was  then  commonly  known  in 
the  synagogues  and  the  primitive 
assemblies  of  the  christians.  It  is 
thought  by  Selden,  Witsius,  Dod- 
dridge, and  others,  that  Saint  Paul 
alluded  to  a  law  among  the  Jews 
which  forbade  servants  or  slaves 
to  call  their  master  Abba,  or 
Father ;  and  that  the  apostle  meant 
to  convey  the  idea  that  those  who 
believed  in  Christ  were  no  longer 
slaves  to  sin;  but,  being  brought 
Vol.  I.  B 


ABB 

into  a  state  of  holy  freedom, 
might  consequently  address  God 
as  their  Father. 

ABBESS, the  superiorofan  ab- 
bey or  convent  of  nuns.  The  abbess 
has  the  same  rights  and  authority 
over  her  nuns  that  the  abbots  re- 
gular have  over  their  monks.  The 
s«x,  indeed,  does  not  allow  her  to 
perform  the  spiritual  functions  an- 
nexed to  the  priesthood,  where- 
with the  abbot  is  usually  invested  ; 
but  there  are  instances  of  some  ab- 
besses who  have  a  right,  or  rather 
a  privilege,  to  commission  a  priest 
to  act  for  them.  They  have  even 
a  kind  of  episcopal  jurisdiction, 
as  well  as  some  abbots  who  are 
exempted  from  tbe  visitation  of 
their  diocesan. 

ABBEY,  a  monastery,  govern- 
ed by  a  superior  under  the  title  of 
Abbot  or  Abbess.  Monasteries 
were  at  first  nothing  more  than  re- 
ligious houses,  whither  persons  re- 
tired from  the  bustle  of  the  world 
to  spend  their  time  in  solitude  and 
devotion ;  but  they  soon  degenerat- 
ed from  their  original  institution, 
and  procured  large  privileges, 
exemptions,    and    riches.     They 


ABB 


ABB 


prevailed  greatly  in  Britain  before 
the  reformation,  particularly  in 
England;  and  as  they  increased 
in  riches,  so  the  state  became 
poor,  for  the  lands  which  these 
regulars  possessed  could  never 
re vertto  the  lords  who  gave  them. 
These  places  were  wholly  abolish- 
ed by  Henry  VIII.  He  first  ap- 
pointed visitors  to  inspect  into  the 
lives  of  the  monks  and  nuns,  which 
were  found  in  some  places  very 
disorderly;  upon  which  the  ab- 
bots, perceiving  their  dissolution 
unavoidable,  were  induced  to  re- 
sign their  houses  to  the  king,  who 
by  that  means  became  invested 
with  the  abbey  lands  :  these  were 
afterwards  granted  to  different 
persons,  whose  descendants  enjoy 
them  at  this  day :  they  were  then 
valued  at  2,853,000/.  per  annum ; 
an  immense  sum  in  those  days. — 
Though  the  suppression  of  these 
houses,  considered  in  a  religious 
and  political  light,  was  a  great 
benefit  to  the  nation,  yet  it  must 
be  owned,  that,  at  the  time  they 
flourished,  they  were  not  entirely 
useless.  Abbeys  were  then  the 
repositories  as  well  as  the  semina- 
ries of  learning  :  many  valuable 
books  and  national  records  have 
been  pi'eserved  in  their  libraries  ; 
the  only  places  wherein  they  could 
have  been  safely  lodged  in  those 
turbulent  times.  Indeed,  the  his- 
torians of  this  country  are  chiefly 
beholden  to  the  monks  for  the 
knowledge  they  have  of  former 
national  events.  Thus  a  kind  Pro- 
vidence overruled  even  the  insti- 
tutions of  superstition  for  good. 
See  Monastery. 

ABBOT,  the  chief  ruler  of  a 
mon8:tery  or  abbey.  At  first  they 


were  laymen,  and  subject  to  the 
bishop  and  ordinary  pastors. 
Their  monasteries  being  remote 
fromcities,andbuiltinthefaj'thest 
solitudes,  they  had  no  share  in 
ecclesiastical  aff'airs;  but,  there 
being  among  them  several  persons 
of  learning,  they  were  called  out 
of  their  deserts  by  the  bishops, 
and  fixed  in  the  suburbs  of  the  ci- 
ties ;  and  at  length  in  the  cities 
themselves.  From  that  time  they 
degenerated,  and,  learning  to  be 
ambitious,  aspired  to  be  independ- 
ent of  the  bishops,  which  occasion- 
ed some  severe  laws  to  be  made 
against  them.  At  length,  how- 
ever, the  abbots  carried  their 
point,  and  obtained  the  title  of 
lord,  with  other  badges  of  the 
episcopate,  particularly  the  mi- 
tre. Hence  arose  new  distinc- 
tions among  them.  Those  were 
termed  mitred  abbots  who  were 
privileged  to  wear  the  mitre  and 
exercise  episcopal  authority  with- 
in their  respective  precincts,  be- 
ing exempted  from  the  jurisdic- 
tion of  the  bishop.  Others  were 
called  cro5zVre(5^  abbots,  from  their 
bearing  the  crosier^  or  pastoral 
staff".  Others  were  styled  cecume- 
7iical  or  universal  abbots,  in  imi- 
tation of  the  patriarch  of  Constan- 
tinople ;  while  others  were  term- 
ed cardi7ial  abbots,  from  their  su- 
periority over  all  other  abbots. 
At  present,  in  the  Roman  catho- 
lic countries,  the  chief  distinc- 
tions are  those  of  regular  and 
comtnendatory.  The  former  take 
the  vow  and  wear  the  habit  of 
their  order  ;  whereas  the  latter 
are  seculars,  though  they  are  ob- 
liged by  their  bulls  to  take  orders 
vv'hen  of  proper  age. 


ABL 


3 


ABS 


ABELIANS,  or  Abelonians, 
a  sect  which  arose  in  the  diocese 
,of  Hippoo  in  Africa,  and  is  sup- 
posed to  have  begun  in  the  reign 
of  Arcadius,  and  ended  in  that  of 
Theodosius.  Indeed,  it  was  not 
calculated  for  being  of  any  long 
continuance.  They  regulated  mar- 
riage after  the  example  of  Abel, 
who,  they  pretended,  was  married, 
but  lived  in  a  state  of  continence  : 
they  therefore  allowed  each  man 
to  marry  one  woman,  but  enjoin- 
ed them  to  live  in  the  same  state. 
To  keep  up  the  sect,  when  a  man 
and  woman  entered  into  this  soci- 
ety, they  adopted  a  boy  and  a  girl, 
who  were  to  inherit  their  goods, 
and  to  marry  upon  the  same  tei^ms 
of  not  having  children,  but  of 
adopting  two  of  different  sexes. 

ABESTA,  the  name  of  one  of 
the  sacred  books  of  the  Persian 
Magi,  which  they  ascribe  to  their 
great  founder  Zoroaster.  The 
Abesta  is  a  commentary  on  two 
others  of  their  religious  books 
called  Zend sind  Pazend ;  the  three 
together  including  the  whole  sys- 
tem of  the  Ignicold,  or  worship- 
pers of  fire. 

ABILITY.     See  Inability. 

ABLUTION,  a  ceremony  in 
use  among  the  ancients,  and  still 
practised  in  several  parts  of  the 
world.  It  consisted  in  washing  the 
body,  which  was  always  clone  be- 
fore sacrificing,  or  even  entering 
their  houses.  Ablutions  appear  to 
be  as  old  as  any  ceremonies,  and 
external  worship  itself.  Moses  en- 
joined them,  the  heathens  adopted 
them,  and  Mahomet  and  his  fol- 
lowers have  continued  them.  The 
Egyptians,  the  Greeks,  the  Ro- 
mans, the  Jews,  all  had  them.  The 


ancient  christians  had  their  ablu- 
tions before  commtinion,  which 
the  Romish  church  still  retain  be- 
fore their  mass,  and  sometimes  af- 
ter. The  Syrians,  Copts,  &c.  have 
their  solemn  washings  on  Good 
Friday  ;  the  Turks  also  have  their 
ablutions,  their  Ghast,  their  Wo- 
dou,  Aman,  &c. 

ABRAHAMITES,  an  order  of  - 
monks  exterminated  for  idolatry 
by  Theophilus,  in  the  ninth  cen- 
tury. Also  the  name  of  another 
sect  of  heretics  who  had  adopted 
the  errors  of  Paulus.    'See  Pau- 

LICIANS. 

ABSOLUTION  signifies  ac- 
quittal. It  is  taken  ul&o  for  that  act 
whereby  the  priest  declares  the  sinS 
of  such  as  are  penitent  remitted. 
The  Romanists  hold  absolution  a 
part  of  the  sacrament  of  penance  ; 
and  the  council  of  Trent  and  that 
of  Florence  declare  the  form  or  es- 
sence of  the  sacrament  to  lie  in 
the  words  of  absolution.  "  I  ab- 
solve thee  of  thy  sins."  Accord- 
ing to  this,  no  one  can  receive  ab- 
solution without  the  privity,  con- 
sent, and  declaration  of  the  priest; 
except,  therefore,  the  priest  be 
willing,  God  himself  cannot  par- 
don any  man.  This  is  a  doctrine 
as  blasphemous  as  it  is  ridiculous. 
The  chief  passage  on  which  they 
ground  their  power  of  absolution 
is  that  in  John  xx,  23 — "  Whose- 
soever sins  ye  remit,  they  are  re- 
mitted unto  them,  and  whose- 
soever sins  ye  retain,  they  are  re- 
tained." But  this  is  not  to  the  pur- 
pose ;  since  this  was  a  special  com- 
mission to  the  apostles  themselves, 
and  the  first  preachers  of  the  gos- 
pel, and  most  probably  referred  to 
the  power  he  gave  them  of  dis- 
cerning spirits.     By  virtue  of  this 


AB  S 


4 


AB  Y 


power,  Peter  struck  Annanias  and 
Sapphira  dead,  and  Paul  struck 
Elimas  blind.  But,  supposing  the 
passage  in  question  to  apply  to  the 
successors  of  the  apostles,  and  to 
ministers  in  general,  it  can  only 
import  that  their  office  is  to  preach 
pardon  to  the  penitent,  assuring 
those  who  believe  that  their  sins 
are  forgiven  through  the  merits  of 
Jesus  Christ ;  and  that  those  who 
remain  in  unbelief  are  in  a  state  of 
condemnation.  Any  idea  of  au- 
thority given  to  fallible,  vminspired 
men  to  absolve  sinners,  different 
from  this,  is  unscriptural ;  nor  can 
I  see  much  utility  in  the  terms 
ministerial  or  declarative  absolu- 
tion, as  adopted  by  some  divines, 
since  absolution  is  wholly  the  pre- 
rogative of  God ;  and  the  terms 
abovementioned  may,  to  say  the 
least,  have  no  good  influence  on 
the  minds  of  the  ignorant  and  su- 
perstitious. 

ABSTEMII,  a  name  given  to 
such  persons  as  could  not  partake 
of  the  cup  of  the  eucharist,  on  ac- 
count of  their  natural  aversion  to 
wine. 

ABSTINENCE,  in  a  general 
sense,  is  the  act  of  refraining  from 
something  which  we  have  a  pro- 
pension  to  or  find  pleasure  in.  It  is 
more  particularly  used  for  fasting 
-or  forbearing  of  necessary  food. 
Among  the  Jews,  various  kinds  of 
abstinence  were  ordained  by  their 
law.  Among  the  primitive  christi- 
ans, some  denied  themselves  the 
use  of  such  meats  as  M-ere  prohi- 
bited by  that  law  ;  othei's  looked  up- 
on this  abstinence  with  contempt; 
as  to  which  Paul  gives  his  opinion, 
Romans  xiv,  1,  3.  The  council  of 
Jerusalem,    which   was  held  by 


the  apostles,  enjoined  the  christian 
converts  to  abstain  from  meat? 
strangled,  from  blood,  from  forni- 
cation, and  from  idolatry.  Acts  xv. 
The  spiritual  monarchy  of  the  wes- 
tern world  introduced  another 
sort  of  abstinence,  which  may  be 
called  ritual^  and  consists  in  ab- 
staining from  particular  meats  at 
certain  times  andseasons,  the  rules 
of  which  are  called  rogations.  If 
I  mistake  not,  the  impropriety  of 
this  kind  of  abstinence  is  clearly 
pointed  out  in  1st  Tim.  iv,  3. — 
In  England,  abstinence  from  flesh 
has  been  enjoined  by  statute,  even 
since  the  reformation;  particularly 
on  Fridays  and  Saturdays,  on 
vigils,  and  on  all  days  commonly 
called  fish  days.  The  like  injunc- 
tions were  renewed  under  queen 
Elizabeth  ;  but  at  the  same  time 
it  was  declared,  that  this  was  done 
not  out  of  motives  of  religion,  as 
if  there  were  any  difference  in 
meats,  but  in  favour  of  the  con- 
sumption of  fish,  and  to  multiply 
the  number  of  fishermen  and  ma- 
riners, as  well  as  to  spare  the  stock 
of  sheep.     See  Fasting. 

ABSTINENTS,  a  set  of  he- 
retics that  appeared  in  France  and 
Spain  about  the  end  of  the  third 
century.  They  are  supposed  to 
have  borrowed  part  of  their  opi- 
nions from  the  Gnostics  and  Ma- 
nichseans,  because  they  opposed 
marriage,  condemned  the  use  of 
flesh  meat,  and  placed  the  Holy 
Ghost  in  the  class  of  created  beings, 

ABYSS,  in  a  general  sense,  de- 
notes something  profound  ;  in  its 
literal  sense  it  signifies  without  a 
bottom ;  in  a  more  particular  sense, 
it  denotes  a  deep  mass  or  fund  of 
waters.     In  this  last    sense   the 


AB  Y 


AC  A 


word  is  used  in  the  Septuagint  for 
the  water  which  God  created  at 
the  beginning  with  the  earth,  which 
encompassed  it  round,  and  which 
our  translators  render  by  deep. 
Tluis  it  is  that  darkness  is  said  to 
have  been  on  the  face  of  the  abyss^ 
Gen.  i,  2.  Abyss  is  also  used  for 
an  immense  cavern  in  the  earth, 
wherein  God  is  supposed  to  have 
collected  all  those  waters  on  the 
third  day,  which  in  our  version  is 
rendered  the  seas^  and  elsewhere 
the  great  deep.  Abyss  is  likewise 
used  to  denote  the  grave  or  com- 
mon receptacle  of  the  dead,  Rom. 
X,  7;  also  hell,  or  the  bottomless 
pit,  Luke  viii,  31.  Rev.  ix,  1.  Rev. 
xi,  7.     See  Deluge. 

ABYSSINIAN  CHURCH, 
that  which  is  established  in  the 
empire  of  Abyssinia.  They  are  a 
branch  of  the  Copts,  with  whom 
they  agree  in  admitting  only  one 
nature  in  Jesus  Christ,  and  re- 
jecting the  council  of  Chalcedon  ; 
whence  they  are  also  called  Mo- 
nophysites  and  Eutychians,  which 
see.  The  Abyssinian  chmxh  is  go- 
verned by  a  bishop  styled  abiino. 
They  have  canons  also,  and  monks. 
The  emperor  has  a  kind  of  supre- 
macy in  ecclesiastical  matters.  The 
Abyssinians  have  at  divers  times 
expressed  an  inclination  to  be  re- 
conciled to  the  see  of  Rome ;  but 
rather  from  interested  views  than 
any  other  motive.  They  practise 
circumcision  on  females  as  well  as 
males.  They  eat  no  meats  pi'o- 
hibited  by  the  law  of  Moses.  They 
observe  both  Saturday  and  Sun- 
day sabbaths.  Women  are  oblig- 
ed to  the  legal  purifications.  Bro- 
thers marry  their  brothers'  wives, 
fee.     On  the  other  hand,  they  ce- 


lebrate the  Epiphany  with  peculiar 
festivity ;  have  four  Lents  ;  pray 
for  the  dead;  and  invoke  angels. 
Images  in  painting  they  venerate ; 
but  abhor  all  those  in  relievo,  ex- 
cept the  cross.  They  admit  the 
apocryphal  books  and  the  canons 
of  the  apostles,  as  well  as  the  apos- 
tolical constitutions,  for  genuine. 
They  allow  of  divorce,  which  is 
easily  granted  among  them,  and 
by  the  civil  judge;  nor  do  their 
civil  laws  prohibit  polygamy. — 
They  have,  at  least,  as  many  mi- 
racles and  legends  of  saints  as  the 
Romish  church.  They  hold  that 
the  soul  of  man  is  not  created ;  be- 
cause, say  they,  God  finished  all 
his  works  on  the  sixth  day.  Thus 
we  see  that  the  doctrines  and  ri- 
tual of  this  sect  form  a  strange  com- 
pound of  Judaism  and  Christianity, 
ignorance  and  superstition.  Some, 
indeed,  have  been  at  a  loss  to  know 
whether  they  are  most  Christians 
or  Jews :  it  is  to  be  feared,  how-^ 
ever,  that  there  is  little  beside  the 
name  of  Christianity  among  them. 
Should  the  reader  be  desirous  to 
know  more  of  this  sect,  he  may 
consult  Father  Lobe's  Voyage  to 
Abyssinia;  Bruce' s  Travels;  Lu- 
dolpli's  Hist,  of  Ethiopia;  and  Die?. 
of  Arts  and  Sciences^  vol.  i,  p.  15. 
ACACIANS,  a  sect  of  heretics 
in  the  fourth  century;  so  named 
from  Acacius,  bishop  of  Csesarea, 
who  denied  the  Son  to  be  of  the 
same  substance  with  the  Father, 
though  some  of  them  allowed  that 
he  was  of  a  similar  substance.  Al- 
so the  name  of  another  sect,  named 
after  Acacius,  patriarch  of  Con- 
stantinople, in  the  fifth  century, 
who  favoured  the  opinions  of  Eii- 
tyches.     See  Eutychians. 


AC  A 


6 


ACC 


ACADEMICS,  a  denomina- 
tion given  to  the  cultivators  of  a 
species  of  philosophy  originally 
derived  from  Socrates,  and  after- 
wards illustrated  and  enforced  by 
Plato.  The  contradictory  systems 
which  had  been  successively  urged 
upon  the  world  were  become  so 
numerous,  that,  from  a  view  of 
the  variety  and  uncertainty  of  hu- 
man opinions,  many  were  led  to 
conclude  that  truth  lay  beyond  the 
reach  of  our  comprehension.  The 
consequence  of  this  conclusion  was 
absolute  scepticism:  hence  the  ex- 
istence of  God,  the  immortality  of 
the  soul,  the  preferableness  of  vir- 
tue to  vice,  were  all  held  as  uncer- 
tain. This  sect,  with  that  of  the 
Epicureans,  were  the  two  chief 
that  were  in  vogue  at  the  time  of 
Christ's  appearance,  and  were  em- 
braced and  supported  by  persons 
of  high  rank  and  wealth.  A  con- 
sideration of  the  principles  of  these 
two  sects  [see  Epicureans]  will 
lead  us  to  form  an  idea  of  the  de- 
plorable state  of  the  world  at  the 
time  of  Christ's  birth;  and  the  ne- 
cessity there  was  of  some  divine 
teacher  to  convey  to  the  mind  true 
and  certain  principles  of  religion 
and  wisdom.  Jesus  Christ,  there- 
fore, is  with  great  propriety  called 
the  Day  Spring  from  on  High,  the 
Sun  of  Righteousness,  that  arose 
upon  a  benighced  world  to  dispel 
the  clouds  of  ignorance  and  error, 
and  discover  to  lost  man  the  path  to 
happiness  and  heaven.  But,  as  Ave 
do  not  mean  to  enlarge  much  upon 
these  and  some  other  sects,  which 
belong  rather  to  philosophy  than 
theology,  we  shall  refer  the  reader 
to  Budden^s  Introduction  to  the 
History  of  Philosophy  ;  Stanley'' s 


Lives;  Brucker^s  History  of  Phi- 
losophy ;  or  (which  is  more  mo- 
dern) Enfeld'^s  Abridgment. 

ACCLAMATIONS,  ecclesi- 
astical, were  shouts  of  joy  which 
the  people  expressed  by  way  of  ap- 
probation of  their  preachers.  It 
hardly  seems  credible  to  us  that 
practices  of  this  kind  should  ever 
have  found  their  way  into  the 
church,  where  all  ought  to  be  reve- 
rence and  solemnity.  Yet  so  it  was 
in  the  fourth  century.  The  people 
were  not  only  permitted,  but  some- 
times even  exhorted,  by  the  preach- 
er himself,  to  approve  his  talents 
by  clapping  of  hands,  and  loud  ac- 
clamations of  praise.  The  usual 
words  they  made  use  of  were, 
"  Orthodox,"  "  Tiiird  apostle," 
&c.  These  acclamations  being  car- 
ried to  excess,  and  often  misplaced, 
were  frequently  proi'ibited  by  the 
ancient  doctors,  and  at  length  abro- 
gated. Even  as  late,  however,  as 
the  seventeenth  and  eighteenth 
centuries,  vt'e  find  practices  that 
were  not  very  decorous ;  such  as 
loud  humming,  frequent  groaning, 
strange  gestures  of  the  body,  &c. 
See  articles  Dancers,  Shakers. 

ACCOMMODATION  of 
SCRIPTURE  is  the  application 
of  it,  not  to  its  literal  meaning,  but 
to  something  analogous  to  it.  Thus 
a  prophecy  is  said  to  be  fulfilled  pro- 
perly when  a  thing  foretold  comes 
to  pass ;  and,  by  way  of  accommo- 
dation, when  an  event  happens  to 
any  place  or  people  similar  to  what 
fell  out  some  time  before  to  ano- 
ther. Thus  the  words  of  Isaiah, 
spoken  to  those  of  his  own  time, 
are  said  to  be  fulfilled  in  those 
who  lived  in  our  Saviour's. — "  Ye 
hypocrites,  well  did  Esaias  pro- 


AGO 


ACT 


phesv,  &c. :  which  same  words 
St.  Paul  afterwards  accommo- 
dates to  the  Jews  of  his  time,  Is. 
xxix,  14.  Matt,  xv,  8.  Acts  xiii, 
41.  Great  care,  however,  should 
be  taken  by  preachers  who  are  fond 
of  accommodating  texts,  that  they 
first  clearly  state  the  literal  sense 
of  the  passage. 

ACCURSED,  something  that 
lies  under  a  curse  or  sentence  of 
excommunication.  In  the  Jewish 
idiom,  accursed  2ind  crucified  were 
synonymous:  among  them,  every 
one  was  accounted  accursed  who 
died  on  a  tree.  This  serves  to  ex- 
plain the  difficult  passage  in  Rom. 
ix,  3.  where  the  apostle  wishes 
himself  accursed  after  the  vianner 
of  Christ;  i.  e.  crucified,  if  hap- 
pily he  might  by  such  a  death 
save  his  countrymen.  The  prepo- 
sition oi'no  here  made  use  of  is  used 
in  the  same  sense,  2d  Tim.  i,  3, 
where  it  obviously  signifies  after 
the  manner  of. 

ACEPHALI,  such  bishops  as 
were  exempt  from  the  discipline 
and  jurisdiction  of  their  ordinarj^ 
bishop  or  patriarch.  It  was  also 
the  denomination  of  certain  sects ; 
1,  of  those  who,  in  the  affair  of  the 
council  of  Ephesus,  refused  to  fol- 
low either  St.  Cyril  or  John  of  An- 
tioch  ;  2,  of  certain  heretics  in  the 
fifth  century,  who,  at  first,  follow- 
ed Peter  Mongus,  but  afterwards 
abandoned  him,  upon  his  subscrib- 
ing to  the  council  of  Chalcedon, 
they  themselves  adhering  to  the 
Eutychian  heresy;  and,  3,  of  the 
followers  of  Severus  of  Antioch, 
and  of  all,  in  general,  who  held 
out  against  the  council  of  Chalce- 
don. 

ACOEMETiE,  or  Acoemeti, 


an  order  of  monks  at  Constantino- 
ple in  the  fifth  centurj^,  whom  the 
writers  of  that  and  the  following 
ages  called  AmiijJloci ;  that  is.  Watch- 
ers, because  they  performed  divine 
service  day  and  night  without  in- 
termission. They  divided  them- 
selves into  three  classes,  who  alter- 
nately succeeded  one  another,  so 
that  they  kept  up  a  perpetual  course 
of  worship.  This  practice  they 
founded  upon  that  passage — 
"  Pray  without  ceasing,"  1st 
Thess.  V,  17. 

ACOLYTHI,  or  Acoluthi, 
young  people  who,  in  the  primitive 
times,  aspired  to  the  ministry,  and 
for  that  purpose  continually  at- 
tended the  bishop.  In  the  Romish 
church,  Acolythi  were  of  longer 
continuance;  but  their  functions 
were  different  from  those  of  their 
first  institution.  Their  business 
was  to  light  the  tapers,  carry  the 
candlesticks  and  the  incense  pot, 
and  prepare  the  wine  and  water. 
At  Rome  there  were  three  kinds ; 

1,  those  who  waited  on  the  pope; 

2,  those  who  served  in  the  church- 
es ;  3,  and  others,  who,  together 
with  the  deacons,  officiated  in  other 
parts  of  the  city. 

ACT  OF  FAITH  {Auto  da 
Fe\  in  the  Romish  church,  is  a 
solemn  day  held  by  the  Inquisi- 
tion for  the  punishmentof  heretics, 
and  the  absolution  of  the  innocent 
accused.  They  usually  contrive  the 
Auto  to  fall  on  some  great  festival, 
that  the  execution  may  pass  with 
the  more  awe;  and  it  is  always  on 
\  Sunday.  The  Auto  da  Fe  maj 
be  called  the  last  act  of  the  Inqui- 
sitorial tragedy  :  it  is  a  kind  of 
giol-delivery,  appointed  as  often 
as  a  competent  number  of  prison- 


ACT 


ACT 


ers  in  the  Inquisition  are  convict- 
ed of  heresy,  either  by  their  own 
voluntary  or  extorted  confession, 
or  on  the  evidence  of  certain  wit- 
nesses. The  process  is  thus : — In 
the  morning  they  a^e  brought  in- 
to a  great  hall,  where  they  have 
certain  habits  put  on,  which  they 
are  to  wear  in  the  pi'ocession,  and 
by  w^hich  they  know  their  doom. 
The  procession  is  led  up  by  Domi- 
nican friars  ;  after  which  come 
the  penitents,  being  all  in  black 
coats  without  sleeves,  and  bare- 
footed, with  a  wax  candle  in  their 
hands.  These  are  followed  by 
the  penitents  who  have  narrowly 
escaped  being  burnt,  who  over 
their  black  coats  have  flames 
painted,  with  their  points  turned 
downwards.  Next  come  the  ne- 
gative and  relapsed,  w^ho  are  to 
be  burnt,  having  flames  on  their 
habits  pointing  upwards.  After 
these  come  such  as  profess  doc- 
trines contrary  to  the  faith  of 
Rome,  who,  besides  flames  point- 
ing upwards,  have  their  picture 
painted  on  their  breasts,  with  dogs, 
serpents,  and  devils,  all  open- 
mouthed,  about  it.  Each  prison- 
er is  attended  with  a  familiar  of 
the  Inquisition ;  and  those  to  be 
burnt  have  also  a  Jesuit  on  each 
hand,  who  are  continually  preach- 
ing to  them  to  abjoi-e.  After  the 
prisoners,  comes  a  troop  of  fami- 
liars on  horseback  j  and  after  them 
the  Inquisitors,  and  other  officers 
of  the  com-t,  on  mules :  last  of  all, 
the  Inquisitor-general  on  a  white 
horse,  led  by  two  men  with  black 
hats  and  green  hatbands.  A  scaf- 
fold is  erected  big  enough  for  two 
or  three  thousand  people ;  at  one 
e^d  of  which  are  the  prisoners,  at 


the  other  the  Inquisitors.  After 
a  sermon  made  up  of  encomiums 
of  the  Inquisition,  and  invectives 
against  heretics,  a  priest  ascends  a 
desk  near  the  scaffold,  and,  having 
taken  the  abjuration  of  the  peni- 
tents, recites  the  final  sentence  of 
those  who  are  to  be  put  to  death, 
and  delivers  them  to  the  secular 
arm,  earnestly  beseeching  at  the 
same  time  the  secular  power  720t 
to  touch  their  bloody  or  put  their 
lives  in  danger! ! I  The  prisoners, 
being  thus  in  the  hands  of  the  ci- 
vil magistrate,  are  presently  load- 
ed with  chains,  and  carried  first 
to  the  secular  gaol,  and  from 
thence,  in  an  hour  or  two,  brought 
before  the  civil  judge;  who,  after 
asking  in  what  religion  they  in- 
tend to  die,  pronounces  sentence 
on  such  as  declare  thev  die  in  the 
communion  of  the  church  of 
Rome,  that  they  shall  be  first 
strangled,  and  then  burnt  to  ash- 
es; on  such  as  die  in  any  other 
faith,  that  they  be  burnt  alive. 
Both  are  immediately  carried  to 
the  Ribera,  the  place  of  execution, 
where  there  are  as  many  stakes 
set  up  as  there  are,  prisoners  to  he 
burnt,  with  a  quantity  of  dry  furze 
about  them.  The  stakes  of  the 
professed,  that  is,  such  as  persist 
in  the  heresv,  are  about  four  yards 
high,  having  a  small  board  towards 
the  top  for  the  prisoner  to  be  seat- 
ed on.  The  negative  and  relapsed 
being  first  sti'angled  and  burnt,  the 
professed  mount  their  stakes  by 
a  ladder;  and  the  Jesuits,  after 
several  repeated  exhortations  to 
be  reconciled  to  the  church,  part 
with  them ;  telling  them  that  they 
leave  them  to  the  devil,  who  is 
standing  at  their  elbow,  to  receive 


ACT 


ADA 


their  souls,  and  carry  them  with 
him  to  the  flames  of  hell.  On  this 
a  great  shout  is  raised  ;  and  the 
cry  is,  "  Let  the  dogs^  beards  he 
made  /"  which  is  done  by  thrusting 
flaming  furzes  fastened  to  long 
poles  against  their  faces,  till  their 
faces  are  burnt  to  a  coal,  which  is 
accompanied  with  the  loudest  ac- 
clamations of  joy.  At  last,  fire  is 
set  to  the  furze  at  the  bottom  of 
the  stake,  over  which  the  profess- 
ed are  chained  so  high,  that  the 
top  of  the  flame  seldom  reaches 
higher  than  the  seat  they  sit  on  ; 
so  that  they  rather  seem  roasted 
than  burnt.  There  cannot  be  a 
more  lamentable  spectacle:  the 
sufferers  continually  cry  out,  while 
thev  are  able,  "  Pity,  for  the  love 
of  God !"  Yet  it  is  beheld,  by  all 
sexes  and  ages,  with  transports  of 
joy  and  satisfaction. — O,  merciful 
God!  is  this  the  benign,  humane 
religion  thou  hast  given  to  men  ? 
Surely  not.  If  such  were  the  ge- 
nius of  Christianity,  then  it  would 
be  no  honour  to  be  a  christian. 
Let  us,  however,  rejoice  that  the 
time  is  coming  when  the  demon 
of  Persecution  shall  be  banished 
out  of  this  our  world,  and  the 
true  spirit  of  benevolence  and  can- 
dour pervade  the  universe ;  when 
none  shall  hurt  or  destroy,  but  the 
€arth  be  filled  with  the  knowledge 
of  the  Lord,  as  the  waters  cover 
the  sea  !  See  Inquisition. 

ACTION  FOR  THE  PUL- 
PIT.— See  Declamation. 

ACTSOFTHE  APOSTLES, 

one  of  the  sacred  books  of  the  New 
Testament,  containing  the  history 
of  the  infant  church  during  tlie 
space  of  twenty-nhie  or  Wiirty 
Vol.  L  C 


years  from  the  ascension  of  our 
Lord  to  the  year  of  Christ  63.  It 
was  written  by  Luke,  and  address- 
ed to  Theophilus,  the  person  to 
whom  the  evangelist  had  before 
dedicated  his  gospel.  The  style 
of  this  work,  which  was  originally 
composed  in  Greek,  is  much  purer 
than  that  of  the  other  canonical 
writers.  For  the  contents  of  this 
book,  we  refer  the  reader  to  the 
book  itself. 

There  have  been  several  acts  of 
the  apostles,  such  as  the  acts  of 
Abdias,  of  Peter,  of  Paul,  St.  John 
the  Evangelist,  St.  Andrew,  St. 
Thomas,  St  Philip,  and  St.  Mat- 
thias ;  but  they  have  been  all  prov- 
ed to  be  spurious. 

ACTS  OF  PILATE,  a  rela- 
tion sent  by  Pilate  to  the  emperor 
Tiberius  concerning  Jesus  Christ, 
his  death,  resurrection,  ascension, 
and  the  crimes  of  Avhich  he  was 
convicted  before  him.  Itwas  acus- 
tom  among  the  Romans,  that  the 
pro-consuls  and  governors  of  pro- 
vinces should  draw  up  acts  or  me- 
moirs of  what  happened  in  the 
course  of  their  government,  and 
send  them  to  the  emperor  and  se- 
nate. The  genuine  acts  of  Pilate 
were  sent  by  him  to  Tiberius,  wlio 
reported  them  to  the  senate  ;  but 
they  were  rejected  bv  that  assem- 
bly, because  not  immediately  ad- 
dressed to  them ;  as  is  testified  by 
TertuUian,  in  his  Apol.,  cap.  5,  & 
20,  21.  The  heretics  forged  acts 
in  imitation  of  them ;  but  both  the 
genuine  and  the  spurious  are  now 
lost. 

ADAMITES,  a  sectthat  sprung 
up  in  the  second  century.  Epipiia- 
nius  tells  us,^that  they  were  called 
Adamites  from  their  pretending  to 


A  D  M 


iO 


AD  O 


be  re-established  in  the  state  of  in- 
nocence, such  as  Adam  was  at  the 
moment  of  his  creation,  whence 
they  ought  to  imitate  him  in  going 
naked.  They  detested  marriage  ; 
maintaining  thatthe  conjugal  union 
V7ot\ld  never  have  taken  place-  up- 
on earth,  had  sin  been  unknown. 
This  obscure  and  ridiculous  sect 
did  not  last  long.  It  was,  how- 
ever, revived  with  additional  ab- 
surdities in  the  twelfth  century. 
About  the  beginning  of  the  fif- 
teenth century,  these  errors  spread 
in  Germany  and  Bohemia :  it 
found  also  some  partizans  in  Po- 
land, Holland,  and  England.  They 
assembled  in  the  night ;  and,  it  is 
said,  one  of  the  fundamental  max- 
ims of  their  society  was  contained 
in  the  following  v^erse : 

Jura,  perjnra,  secretutn  prodere  noli- 
Swear,  forswear,  and  reveal  not  the  secret. 

ADESSENARIANS,abranch 
of  the  Sacramentarians  ;  so  called 
from  the  Latin  Adesst\  to  be  pre- 
sent, because  they  believed  the 
presence  of  Christ's  body  in  the 
euchavist,  though  in  a  manner  dif- 
ferent from  the  Romanists. 

ADIAPHORISTS,aname  giv- 
en in  the  sixteenth  century  to  the 
moderate  Lutherans  who  adhered 
to  the  sentiments  of  Melancthon  ; 
and  afterwards  to  those  who  sub- 
scribed the  interim  of  Charles  V. 
[See  Interim.]  The  word  is  of 
Greek  origin  (aWipopf®-),  and  signi- 
fies indifference  or  lukevvarmness. 

AD  M IR  ATIO  N  is  thatpassion 
of  the  mind  which  is  excited  by  the 
discovery  of  any  great  excellence 
in  an  object.  It  has  by  some  v/ri- 
ters  been  used  as  synonymous 
with  surprise  aiid  wonder  ;  but  it 
13  evident  they  are  not  the  same. 


Surprise  refers  to  something  un- 
expected ;  wonder,  to  something 
great  or  strange;  but  admiration 
includes  the  idea  of  high  esteem  or 
respect.  Thus,  we  say  we  admire 
a  man's  excellencies  ;  but  we  do 
not  say  that  we  are  surprised  at 
them.  We  wonder  at  an  extra- 
ordinary object  or  event,  but  we 
do  not  always  admire  it. 

ADMONITION  denotes  a 
hint  or  advice  given  to  another, 
whereby  we  reprove  him  for  his 
fault,  or  remind  him  of  his  duty. 
Admonition  was  a  part  of  the  dis- 
cipline much  used  in  the  ancient 
church  :  it  was  the  first  act  or  step 
towards  the  punishment  or  expul- 
sion of  delinquents.  In  case  of  pri- 
vate offences,  it  was  performed, 
according  to  the  evangelical  rule, 
privately;  in  case  of  public  of- 
fence, openly  before  the  church. 
If  either  of  those  sufficed  for  the 
recovery  of  the  fallen  person,  all 
farther  proceedings,  in  a  way  of 
censure,  ceased  ;  if  they  did  not, 
recourse  was  had  to  excommuni- 
cation.— Tit.  iii,  10.  1st  Thess.  v, 
14.  Eph.  vi,  4. 

ADONAI,  one  of  the  iaames 
of  the  Supreme  Being  in  the  scrip- 
tures. The  proper  meaning  of  the 
word  is  '•'-my  Lcrds^''  in  the  plural 
number ;  as  Adoni  is  my  Lord^  in 
the  singular.  The  Jews,  who  either 
014  of  respect  or  superstition  do 
not  pronounce  the  name  of  Jeho-p 
vah,  read  Adonai  in  the  room  of 
it,  as  often  as  they  meet  with  Je- 
hovah in  the  Hebrew  text.  But 
the  ancient  Jews  were  not  so  scru- 
pulons  ;  nor  is  there  any  law 
v/hich  forbids  them  to  pronounce 
the  name  of  God. 

ADONISTS,  a  party  amongdi- 


ADO 


11 


A  D  O 


vines  and  critics,  who   maintain, 


thai  the  Hebrew  points  ordinarily  'to  prevent  its  being  divided,  or  dc 


annexed  to  the  consonants  of  the 
word  Jehovah  are  not  the  natural 
points  belonging  to  tliat  word,  nor 
express  the  true  pronunciation  of 
it ;  but  are  the  vowel  points  be- 
longing to  the  words  Adonai  and 
Eloliim,  applied  to  the  consonants 
of  the  ineffable  name  Jehovah,  to 
warn  the  readers,  that  instead  of 
the  word  Jehovah,  which  the  Jews 
were  forbid  to  pronounce,  and  the 
true  pronunciation  of  which  had 
been  long  unknown  to  them,  they 
are  always  to  read  Adonai.  They 
are  opposed  to  Jehovists,  of  whom 
the  principal  are  Drusius,  Capel- 
lus,  Buxtorf,  Alting,  and  Reland. 

ADOPTiANISTS,  the  follow- 
ers of  Felix  of  Urgil  and  Elipand 
of  Toledo,  who,  towards  the  end 
of  the  eighth  century,  advanced  the 
notion  that  Jesus  Christ  in  his  hu- 
man nature  is  the  Son  of  God,  not 
by  nature  but  by  adoption. 

ADOPTION,  an  act  whereby 
any  personreceives  another  into  his 
family,  owns  him  for. his  son,  and 
appoints  him  his  heii-,  2.  Spiritual 
adoption  is  an  act  of  God's  free 
grace,  whereby  we  are  received 
into  the  number,  and  have  a  right 
to  all  the  privileges  of  the  sons  of 
C-iod. — 3.  Glorious^'is  that  in  which 
the  saints,  being  raised  from  the 
dead,  are  at  the  last  day  solemnly 
owned  to  be  the  children  of  God, 
and  enter  into  the  full  posses.sion 
of  that  inheritance  provided  for 
them,  Rom.  vili,  19,  23.  Adoption 
is  a  word  taken  from  the  civil  law, 
and  was  much  in  use  among  the 
Koaians  in  the  apostles'  time; 
vv'hcn  it  was  a  custom  for  persons 
who  had  no  children  of  their  own, 


and  were  possessed  of  an  estate, 


scending  to  strangers,  to  make 
choice  of  such  who  were  agreea- 
ble to  them,  and  beloved  by  them, 
whom  they  took  into  this  political 
relation  of  children  ;  obliging  them 
to  take  their  name  upon  them, 
and  to  pay  respect  to  them  as 
though  they  were  their  natural  pa- 
rents, and  engaging  to  deal  with 
them  as  though  they  had  been  so  ; 
and  accordingly  to  give  them  a 
right  to  their  estates,  as  an  inherit- 
ance. This  new  relation,  founded 
in  a  mutual  consent,  is  a  bond  of 
affection  ;  and  the  privilege  arising 
from  thence  is,  that  he  who  is  in 
this  sense  a  father,  takes -care  of 
and  provides  for  the  person  Avhom. 
he  adopts,  as  though  he  were  his 
son  by  nature  ;  and  thei-efore  civi- 
lians call  it  an  act  of  legiti}natio7i^ 
imitating  nature,  or  supplying  the 
place  of  it. 

It  is  easy,  then,  to  conceive  the 
propriety  of  the  term  as  used  by 
the  apostle  in  reference  to  this  act, 
though  it  must  be  confessed  there 
is  some  difference  between  civil 
and  spiritual  adoption.  Civil  adop- 
tion was  allowed  of  and  provided 
for  the  relief  and  comfort  of  those 
who  had  no  children  ;  but  hi  spi- 
ritual adoption  this  reason  does 
not  appear.  The  Almighty  was 
under  no  obligation  to  do  this  ; 
for  he  had  innuvnerable  spirits 
whom  he  had  created,  besides  his 
own  Son,  wJio  had  all  the  perfec- 
tions of  the  divine  nature,  who  was 
the  objectof  his  delight,  and  who  is 
styled  the  heir  of  all  things,  Heb.  i, 
3.  When  men  adopt,  it  is  on' ac- 
count of  some  excellencv  in  the 
persons  who  are    adopted  ;    thus 


ADO 


12 


ADO 


Pharaoh's  daughter  adoptedMoses 
because  he  was  exceeding  fair, 
Acts  vii,  20,  21  ;  and  Mordecai 
adopted  Esther  because  she  was 
his  uncle's  daughter,  and  exceed- 
ing fair,  Esth.  ii,  7:  but  man  has 
nothing,  in  him  that  merits  this 
divine  act,  Ezek.  xvi,  5.  In  civil 
adoption,  though  the  name  of  a 
son  be  given,  the  nature  of  a  son 
may  not :  this  relation  may  not  ne- 
cessarily be  attended  with  any 
change  of  disposition  or  temper. 
But  in  spiritual  adoption  we  are 
made  partakers  of  the  divine  na- 
ture, and  a  temper  or  disposition 
given  us  becoming  the  relation- 
ship v/e  bear,  Jer.  iii,  19. 

Much  has  been  said  as  to  the 
time  of  adoption.  Some  place  it 
before  regeneration,  because  it  is 
supposed  that  v\'e  must  be  in  the 
family  before  we  can  be  partakers 
of  the  blessings  of  it.  But  it  is  dif- 
ficult to  conceive  of  one  before 
the  other  ;  for  although  adoption 
may  seem  to  precede  regeneration 
in  order  of  nature,  yet  not  of  time  ; 
they  may  be  distinguished,  but 
cannot  be  separated.  "  As  many 
as  received  him,  to  them  gave  he 
power  to  become  the  sons  of  God, 
even  to  them  that  believe  on  his 
name,"  John  i,  12.  There  is  no 
adoption,  says  the  great  Charnock, 
without  regeneration.  "  Adop- 
tion," says  the  same  author,  "  is 
not  a  mere  relation  :  the  privilege 
and  the  image  of  the  sons  of  God 
go  together.  A  state  of  adoption 
is  never  without  a  separation  from 
defilement,  Cor.  ii,  17,  18.  The 
new  name  in  adoption  is  never 
given  till  the  new  creature  be 
formed.  '  As  many  as  are  led  by 
the  Spirit  of  God,  they  are   the 


sons  of  God,'  Rom.  viii,  14.  Ytt 
these  are  to  be  distinguished.  Re- 
generation, as  2i  physical  act,  gives 
us  a  likeness  to  God  in  our  na- 
ture ;  adoption,  as  a  legal  act, 
gives  us  a  right  to  an  inheritance. 
Regeneration  makes  us  formally 
his  sons,  by  conveying  a  principle, 
Pet.  i,  23 ;  adoption  makes  us 
relatively  his  sons,  by  conveying 
a  power,  John  i,  12.  By  the  one 
we  are  instated  in  the  divine  affec- 
tion ;  by  the  other  we  are  partakers 
of  the  divine  nature." 

The  privileges  of  adoption  are 
every  xvay  great  and  extensive.  1 . 
It  implies  great  honour.  They  have 
God's  name  put  upon  them,  and 
are  described  as  "  his  people  call- 
ed by  his  name,"  2d  Chron.  vii, 
14.  Eph.  iii,  15.  They  are  no  lon- 
ger slaves  to  sin  and  the  world  ; 
but  emancipated  from  its  dread- 
ful bondage,  are  raised  to  dignity 
and  honour.  Gal.  iv,  7.  1st  John 
iii,  1,  2. — 2.  Inexhaustible  provi- 
sion and  riches.  They  inherit  all 
things.  Rev.  xxi,  7.  AH  the  bles- 
sings of  a  temporal  kind  that  are 
for  their  good  shall  be  given  them, 
Psalm  Ixxxiv,  11.  All  the  bles- 
sings of  grace  are  treasured  up  in 
Jesus  Christ  for  them,  Eph.  i,  3. 
All  the  blessings  of  glory  shall  be 
enjoyedbythem,  Col.  1,27.  "All 
things  areyour's,  "says  the  apos- 
tle, "whether  Paul,  or  Apollos,  or 
Cephas,  or  the  world,-  or  life,  or 
death,  or  things  present,  or  things 
to  come,  all  are  your's,"  1st  Cor. 
iii,  22. — 3.  Divine  protection.  "  In 
the  fear  of  the  Lord  is  strong  con- 
fidence, and  his  children  shall  have 
a  place  of  refuge,"  Prov.  xiv,  26. 
As  the  master  of  a  family  is  en- 
gaged to   defend  and  secure  all 


ADO 


13 


ADO 


under  his  roof  and  committed  to 
his  care,  so  Jesus  Christ  is  engaged 
to  pro^t  and  defend  his  people. 
"  They  shall  dwell  in  a  peaceable 
habitation,  and  in  sure  dwellings, 
and  quiet  resting  places,"  Is.  xxxii, 
18.  Heb.  i,  14. — 4.  Unspeakable 
felicity.  They  enjoy  the  most  inti- 
mate communion  with  the  Father, 
and  with  his  Son  Jesus  Christ. 
They  have  access  to  his  throne  at  j 
all  times,  and  under  all  circum- 
stances. They  see  divine  wisdom 
regulating  every  aifair,  and  ren- 
dering every  thing  subservient  to 
their  good,  Heb.  xii,  6  to  1 1.  The 
laws,  the  liberty,  the  privileges, 
the  relations,  the  provisions,  and 
the  security  of  this  family,  are  all 
sources  of  happiness ;  but  especial- 
ly the  presence,  the  approbation," 
and  the  goodness  of  God,  as  the 
governor  thereof,  afford  joy  un- 
speakable and  full  of  glory,  1st 
Pet.  i,  8.  Prov.  iii,  17.  Heb.  iv, 
16. — 5.  Eternal  glory.  In  some 
cases,  civil  adoption  might  be 
made  null  and  void,  as  among  the 
Romans,  when  against  the  right 
of  the  pontifex,  and  without  the 
decree  of  the  college;  but  spirit- 
ual adoption,  as  it  is  divine  as  to 
its  origin,  so  it  is  perpetual  as  to 
its  duration.  "  The  Son  abideth  in 
the  house  for  ever,"  John  viii,  2,5. 
"  The  inheritance  of  the  saints  is 
incorruptible,  undefiled,  and  never 
fadeth  away,"  1st  Pet.  i,  4.  "  Now 
are  we  the  sons  of  God,  and  it 
doth  not  yet  appear  what  we  shall 
be  :  but  we  know  that  when  he 
shall  appear,  we  shall  be  like  him, 
for  we  shall  see  him  as  he  is,"  1st 
John  iii,  2.  In  the  present  state 
we  are  as  children  at  school ;  but 
in  heaven  we  shall  be  as  children 


at  home,  where  w^e  shall  always 
behold  the  face  of  our  heavenly 
Father,  for  ever  cel-ebrating  his 
praises,  admiring  his  perfections, 
and  enjoying  his  presence.  "  So 
shall  we  be  ever  with  the  Lord," 
1st  Thess.  iv,  17. 

The  evidences  of  adoption  are, 
1.  Renunciation  of  all  former  de- 
pendencies. When  a  child  is  adopt- 
ed, he  relinquishes  the  object  of 
his  past  confidence,  and  submits 
himself  to  the  will  and  pleasure 
of  the  adopter;  so  they  who  are 
brought  into  the  family  of  God, 
will  evidence  it,  by  giving  up  every 
other  object  so  far  as  it  interferes 
with  the  will  and  glory  of  their 
heavenly  Father.  "  Ephraim  shall 
say,  what  have  I  to  do  any  more 
with  idols?"  Hos.  xiv,  8.  "  Other 
lords  have  had  dominion  over  us ; 
but  by  thee  only  will  we  make 
mention  of  thy  name,"  Is.  xxvi, 
13.  Matt,  xiii,  45,  46.  Phil,  iii, 
8. — 2.  Affection.  This  may  not 
always  apply  to  civil  adoption,  but 
it  always  does  to  spiritual.  The 
children  of  God  feel  a  regard  for 
him  above  every  other  object.  His 
own  excellency,  his  unspeakable 
goodness  to  them,  his  promises  of 
future  blessings,  are  all  grounds  of 
the  strongest  love.  "  Whom  have 
I  in  heaven  but  thee  I  and  there 
is  none  upon  earth  that  I  desire 
besides  thee,"  Psalm  Ixxiii,  25. 
"  Thou  art  my  portion,  saith  my 
soul,  therefore  will  I  hope  in 
thee,"  Lam.  iii,  24.  Luke  vii,  47- 
Ps.  xviii,  1. — 3.  Access  to  God 
with  a  holy  boldness.  They  who 
are  children  by  adoption  are  sup- 
posed to  have  the  same  liberty  of 
access  as  those  who  are  children 
by  nature  ;  so  those  who  are  par- 


ADO 


14 


ADO 


takers  of  the  blessings  of  spiritual 
adoption  will  prove  it  by  a  reve- 
rential yet  familiar  address  to  the 
Father  of  spirits:  they  will  con- 
fess their  unworthlness,  ackno-.v- 
ledge  their  dependance,  and  im- 
plore the  mercy  and  favour  of 
God.  **  Because  ve  are  sons,  God 
hath  sent  forth  the  SpiHt  of  his 
Son  into  vour  hearts,  ciying  Ab- 
ba, Father,"  Gal.  iv,  6,  "  Through 
Jesus  Christ  we  have  access  by  one 
Spirit  unto  the  Father,"  Eph.  ii, 
18.  Having  such  a  privilege,  they 
<:ome  boldly  to  the  throne  of  grace, 
that  they  may  obtain  mercy,  and 
find  grace  to  help  in  time  of 
need,  Heb.  iv,  16. —  i.  Obedi- 
ence. Those  who  are  adopted  in- 
fto  a  family  must  obey  the  laws  of 
that  family;  so  believers  prove 
■themselves  adopted  by  their  obe- 
<iience  to  the  word  and  ordinances 
of  God.  "  Ye  are  my  friends,  if 
ye  do  whatsoever  I  command 
you,"  John  xy.  14.  "  Whoso  keep- 
^th  his  word,  in  him  verily  is  the 
love  of  God  perfected:  hereby 
"know  we  that  we  are  in  him.  He 
that  saith  he  abideth  in  him,  ought 
himself  also  to  walk  even  as  he 
walked"  1st  John  ii,  4,  5. — 5. 
Patient  yet  joyful  expectation  of  the 
inheritance.  In  civil  adoption,  in- 
deed, an  inheritance  is  not  always 
certain;  but  in  spiritual  adoption 
it  is.  "  To  them  who,  by  patient 
continuance  in  well  doing,  seek 
forglon,%  and  honour,  and  immor- 
tality, eternal  life,"  Rom.  ii,  7. 
*'  We  look  not  at  the  things  which 
are  seen,  but  at  the  things  which 
-jire  not  seen  ;  for  tlie  things  v/hich 
are  seen  are  temporal,  but  the 
things  which  are  not  seen  are  eter- 
nal," 2d  Cor.  iv,  18.  Rom.  vi,23. 


Heb.  xi,  26,  27.  From  the  consi- 
deration of  the  whole  of  this  doc- 
trine, we  may  learn  that  adoption 
is  an  act  of  free  grace  through  Je- 
sus Christ,  Eph.  i.  5.  Applied 
to  believers  by  the  Holy  Spirit,  ' 
Gal.  iv,  6.  Rom.  viii,  15,  16.  A 
blessing  of  the  greatest  importance, 
1st  John  iii,  1,  and  lays  us  under 
an  inviolable  obligation  oi submis- 
sion^ Heb.  xii,  9,  imitation.,  Eph. 
V,  1,  and  dependance.,  Matt,  vi,  32. 
See  Ridgleifs  and  GilPs  Body  of 
Dii}..,  art.  Adoption;  Char  nock's 
iVorh,  vol.  ii,  p.  32-72;  FlavePs 
Works.,  vol.  ii,  p.  601 ;  BroxviUs 
Sijstem  of  Nat.  and  Rev.  Religion^ 
p.  442 ;  Witsii  Oecon.  Foed..,  p.  165. 

ADORATION,  the  act  of  ren-  , 
dering  Divine  honours,  including 
in  it  reverence,  esteem,  and  love: 
this  is  called  supreme,  or  absolute. 
The  word  is  compounded,  of  ad^ 
"  to,"  ando5',  oris.^  "  mouth;"  and 
literally  signifies  to  apply  the  hand 
to  the  mouth,  "to  kiss  the  hand;" 
this  being,  in  the  eastern  coun- 
tries, one  of  the  great  marks  of  re- 
spect and  submission.  See  Job 
xxxi,  26,  27.  The  attitude  of  ado- 
ration, however,  we  find,  has  not 
been  confined  to  this  mode.  Stand- 
ing, kneeling,'uncovering  the  head, 
prostration,  bowing,  lifting  up  the 
eyes  to  heaven,  or  sometimes  fix- 
ing them  upon  the  earth  widi  the 
bodv  bending  forward ;  sitting  with 
the  under  parts  of  the  thighs  rest- 
ing on  the  heels,  have  all  been 
used,  as  expressive  of  veneration 
and  esteem.  Whatever  be  the 
form,  however,  it  must  be  remem- 
bered, that  adoration,  as  an  act  of 
worship,  is  due  to  God  alone,  IVIatt. 
iv,  10.  Acts  X,  25,  26.  Rev.  xix, 
10.     There  is,  2,   what  may  be 


ADU 


15 


ADU 


called  adoration  human^  or  paying 
homage  or  respect  to  persons  oi 
great  r^ank  and  dignity.  This  has 
been  performed  by  bowing,  bend- 
ing the  knee,  faihng  on  the  face. 
The  practice  of  adoration  may  be 
said  to  be  still  subsisting  in  Eng- 
land, in  the  ceremony  of  kissing 
the  king's  or  queen's  hand,  and  in 
serving  them  at  table,  both  being 
performed  kneeling  on  one  knee. 
There  is  also,  3,  adoration  rela- 
tive^ which  consists  in  worship 
paid  to  an  object  as  belonging  to 
or  representative  of  another.  In 
this  sense  the  Romanists  profess 
to  adore  the  cross  not  simply  or  im- 
mediately, but  in  respect  of  Jesus 
Christ,  whom  they  suppose  to  be  on 
it-  This  is  generally,  however,  con- 
sidered by  Protestr.nts  as  coming 
little  short  of  idolatry.  See  Idola- 
try. 

ADVERSARY,  one  who  sets 
himself  in  opposition  to  another: 
one  of  the  nanaes  of  Satan.  See 
Satan. 

ADVERSITY,  a  state  which 
is  opposite  to  our  wishes,  and  the 
cause  of  sorrow.  It  stands  opposed 
to  prosperity.   See  Affliction. 

ADULTERY,  an  unlawful 
commerce  between  one  married 
person  and  another,  or  between  a 
married  and  unmarried  person.  2. 
It  is  also  used  in  scripture  for  idol- 
atry, or  departing  from  the  true 
God,  Jer.  iii,  9. — 3.  Also  for  any 
speciesof  impurity  or  crime  against 
the  virtue  of  chastity.  Matt,  v,  28. 
— 4.  Itis also usedin ecclesiastical 
writers  for  aperson's  invadingorin- 
\ruding  into  a  bishopric  during  the 
former  bishop's  life. — 5.  The  word 
is  also  used  in  ancient  customs  for 
the  punishment  or  hne  imposed  for 


that  offence,  or  the  privilege  of  pro- 
secuting for  it. — Although  adulte- 
ry is  prohibited  by  the  law  of  God , 
yet  some  have  endeavoured  to  ex- 
plain away  the  moral  turpitude  of 
it;  but  it  is  evident,  observes  Paley, 
that,  on  the  part  of  the  man  who 
solicits  the  chastity  of  a  married 
Avoman,  it  certainly  include*s  the 
crime  of  seduction,  and  is  attend- 
ed with  mischief  still  more  exten- 
sive and  complicated:  it  creates  a 
new  sufferer,  the  injured  husband, 
upon  whose  affection  is  inflicted 
a  wound  the  most  painful  and  in- 
curable that  human  nature  knows. 
The  infidelity  of  the  zooman  is  ag- 
gravated by  cruelty  to  her  chil- 
dren, who  are  generally  involved 
in  their  parent's  shame,  and  al- 
ways made  unhappy  by  their  quar- 
rel The  marriage  \ow  is  vrit- 
nessed  before  God,  and  accom- 
panied with  circumstances  of.  so- 
lemnity and  religion  which  ap- 
proach to  the  nature  of  an  oatho. 
The  married  offender,  therefore, 
incurs  a  crime  little  short  of  per- 
jurv,  and  the  seduction  of  a  mar- 
ried woman  is  little  less  than  su- 
bornation of  perjury.  But  the 
strongest  apology-  for  adultery  is, 
the  prior  transgi-ession  of  the  other 
party  ;  and  so.  far,  indeed,  as  the 
bad  effects  of  adultery  are  antici- 
pated by  the  conduct  of  the  hus- 
band or  wife  who  offends  firot,  the 
guilt  of  the  second  offender  is 
extenuated.  But  this  can  never 
amount  to  a  justification,  unless 
it  could  be  shewn  that  the  obliga- 
tion of  the  marriage  vow  depends 
upon  the  condition  ot  reciprocal 
fidelity;  a  construction  which  ap- 
pears founded  neither  in  expedi- 
ency, nor  in  terms  of  the  vo\r. 


AER 


16 


AFF 


Bor  in  the  design  of  the  legislature, 
which  prescribed  the  marriage  rite. 
To  consider  the  offence  upon  the 
footing  oi  provocation^  therefore, 
can  by  no  means  vindicate  retalia- 
tion. "Thoushaltnot  commit  adul- 
tery," it  must  be  ever  remember- 
ed, wa»an  interdict  delivered  by 
God  himself.  This  crime  has 
been  punished  in  almost  all  ages 
and  nations.  By  the  Jewish  law 
it  w^as  punished  with  death  in  both 
parties,  where  either  the  woman 
was  mamed,  or  both.  Among  the 
Egyptians,  adultery  in  the  man 
was  punished  by  a  thousand  lashes 
with  rods,  and  in  the  woman  by 
the  loss  of  her  nose.  The  Greeks 
put  out  the  eyes  of  the  adulttrers. 
Among  the  Romans,  it  was  punish- 
ed by  banishment,  cutting  off  the 
ears,  noses,  and  by  sewing  the 
adulterers  in  sacks,  and  throwing 
them  into  the  sea;  scourging,  burn- 
ing, &c.  In  Spain  and  Poland  they 
were  almost  as  severe.  The  Sax- 
ons formerly  burnt  the  adulteress, 
and  over  her  ashes  erected  a  gib- 
bet, whereon  the  adulterer  was 
hanged.  King  Edmund,  in  this 
kingdom,  ordered  adultery  to  be 
punished  in  the  same  manner  as 
homicide.  Canute  ordered  the 
man  to  be  banished,  and  the  wo- 
man to  have  her  nose  and  ears  cut 
off.  Modern  punishments,  in  dif- 
ferent nations,  do  not  seem  to  be 
so  severe.  In  Britain  it  is  reckon- 
ed a  spiritual  offence,  and  is  cog- 
nizable by  the  spiritual  courts, 
where  it  is  punished  by  fine  and 
penance.  See  Palerfs  Moral  and 
Political  PhUcsophy^  p.  309,  vol.  i, 
12th  edition. 

AERI ANS,  a  branch  of  Arians 
in  the  reigia  of  Constantine,  who 


held  that  there  was  no  difference 
betw^een  bishops  and  priests ;  a 
doctrine  maintained  by  many  mo- 
dern divines,  particularly  of  the 
presbyterian  and  reformed  church- 
es. The  sect  received  its  denomi- 
nation from  Aerius,  who  founded 
his  doctrine  on  1st  Tim.  iv,  14. 
See  Episcopacy. 

AETIANS,  those  who  main- 
tained that  the  Son  and  Holy  Ghost 
were  in  all  things  dissimilar  to  the 
Father.  They  received  their  name 
from  Aetius,  one  of  the  most  zeal- 
ous defenders  of  Arianism,  who 
w^as  born  in  Syria,  and  flourished 
about  the  year  336.  Besides  the 
opinions  which  the  Aetians  held 
in  common  with  the  Arians,  they 
maintained  that  faith  without  works 
was  suifxientto  salvation ;  and  that 
no  sin,  however  grievous,  would 
be  imputed  to  the  faithful.  Aetius, 
moreover,  affirmed  that  what  God 
had  concealed  from  the  apostles, 
he  had  revealed  to  him. 

AFFECTION,  in  a  philosophi- 
cal  sense,  refers  to  the  manner  in 
which  we  are  affected  by  any  thing 
for  a  continuance,  whether  painful 
or  pleasant  J  but,  in  the  most  com- 
mon sense,  it  may  be  defined  to 
be  a  settled  bent  of  mind  towards 
a  particular  being  or  thing.  It 
holds  a  middle  place  between  dis- 
position on  the  one  hand,  ^ndi  pas- 
sion on  the  other.  It  is  distin- 
guishable from  disposition^  which, 
being  a  branch  of  one's  nature  ori- 
ginally, must  exist  before  there 
can  be  any  opportunity  to  exert 
it  upon  anv  particular  object ; 
whereas  affection  can  never  be  ori- 
ginal, because,  having  a  special 
relation  to  a  particular  object,  it 
cannot  exist  till  the  object  have 


AFF 


17 


AFF 


once,  at  least,  been  presented.    It 
is  also  distinguishable  hompass'ton^ 
which,  depending  on  the  real  or 
ideal  presence  of  its  object,  va-  ] 
nishes  with  its  object;  whereas  af- 
fection is  a  lasting  connextion,  and, 
like  other  connextions,  subsist  even 
when  we  do  not  think  of  the  ob- 
ject. [See  Disposition  and  Pas- 
sion.] The  affections,  as  they  res- 
pect religion,  deserve  in  this  place 
a  little  attention.    They  may  be 
defined  to  be  the  "  vigorous  and 
sensible  exercises  of  the  inclina- 
tion and  will  of  the  soul  towards 
religious  objects."  Whatever  ex- 
tremes stoics  or  enthusiasts  have 
run  into,  it  is  evident  that  the  ex- 
ercise of  the  affections  is  essential 
to  the  existence  of  true  religion. 
It  is  true,  indeed,  "  that  all  affec- 
tionate devotion  is  not  wise  and 
rational ;  but   it   is   no  less  true, 
that  all  wise  and  rational  devotion 
must  be  affectionate."    The  affec- 
tions are  the   springs  of  action  ; 
they   belong    to   our  nature,    so 
that,  with  the  highest  perceptions 
of  truth  and  religion,  we  should 
be  inactive  without  them.      They 
have  considerable  influence  on  men 
in  the  common  concerns  of  life  ; 
how  much  more,  then,  should  they 
operate  in  those  important  objects 
that  relate  to  the   Divine   Being, 
the  immortality  of  the  soul,  and 
the  happiness  or  misery  of  a  future 
state  !  The  religion  of  the  most 
eminent  saints  has  always  consist- 
ed in  the  exercise  of  holy  affec- 
tions.    Jesus   Christ   himself  af- 
fords us  an  example   of  the  most 
lively  and  vigorous  affections  ;  and 
we  have  every  reason  to  believe 
that  the    employment  of  heaven 
consists  in  the  exercise  of  them. 
Vol.  I.  D 


In  addition  to  all  which,  the  scrips 
tures  of  truth  teach  us,  that  religion 
is  nothing,  if  it  occupy  not  the  af- 
fections, Deut.  vi,  45.  Deut.  xxx, 
6.  Rom.  xii,  11.  1st  Cor.  xiii,  13. 
Ps.  xxvii,  14. 

A  distinction,  however,  must  be 
made  between  what  may  be  mere' 
ly  natural^  and  what  is  truly  spiri- 
tual. The  affections  may  be  ex- 
cited in  a  natural  way  under  ordi- 
nances by  a  natural  impressiortj 
Ezek.  xxxiii,  32  ;  by  a  natural 
sympathy^  or  by  the  natural  tempe' 
rament  of  our  constitution.  It  is 
no  sign  that  our  affections  are  spi- 
ritual because  they  are  raised  very 
high  ;  produce  great  effects  on  the 
body  ;  excite  us  to  be  very  zealous 
in  externals ;  to  be  always  con- 
versing about  ourselves,  &c.  These 
things  are  often  found  in  those 
who  are  only  mere  professors  of 
religion.  Matt,  vii,  21,  22. 

Now,  in  order  to  ascertain  whe- 
ther our  affections  are  excited  in 
a  spiritual  manner,  we  must  en- 
quire whether  that  which  moves 
our  affections  be  truly  spiritual; 
whether  our  consciences  be  alarm- 
ed, and  our  hearts  impressed ; 
whether  the  judgment  be  enlight- 
ened, and  we  have  a  perception  of 
the  moral  excellency  of  divine 
things  ;  and,  lastly,  whether  our 
affections  have  a  holy  tendency, 
and  produce  the  happy  effects  of 
obedience  to  God,  humility  in  our- 
selves, and  justice  to  our  fellow 
creatures. — As  this  is  a  subject 
worthy  of  close  attention,  the  rea- 
der may  consult  Lord  KainCs  Ele- 
ments of  Criticism^  v.  ii,  p.  517  ; 
Edwards  on  the  Affections ;  Pike 
and  Hayxvard^s  Cases  of  Consci- 
ence ;  Watts' s  Use  and  Abuse  of  the 


AFF 


18 


AG  A 


Passions;  M^ Laii r iri' sJEss ay s^  sect.  '\ 
5  and  6,  where  this  subject  is  mas- 
terly handled. 

AFFLICTION,  that  which 
causes  a  sensation  of  pain.  Calami- 
ty or  distress  of  any  kind.  The  af- 
flictions of  the  saints  are  repre- 
sented in  the  scripture  disappointed^ 
1st  Thess.  iii,  3.  Job  v,  6,  7;  nume- 
rous^ Ps.  xxxiv,  19;  transient^  2d 
Cor,  iv,  17.  Heb.  X,  2>7 ;  and  when 
sanctified,  beneficial^  1st  Pet.  i^  6. 
Ps.  cxix,  GT,  71.  They  wean  from 
the  world  ;  wor]^  submission ;  pro- 
duce humility  J  excite  to  diligence  ; 
stir  up  to  prayer  ;  and  conform  us 
to  tlie  Divine  image.  To  bear 
them  with  patience,  we  should  con- 
sider our  own  unworthiness  ;  the 
design  of  God  in  sending  them  ; 
tlie  promises  of  support  under  them; 
and  the  real  good  they  are  pro- 
ductive of.  The  afflictions  of  a 
good  man,  says  an  elegant  writer, 
never  befal  without  a  cause,  nor 
are  sent  but  upon  a  pi'oper  errand. 
These  storms  are  never  allowed  to 
rise  but  in  order  to  dispel  some 
noxious  vapours,  and  to  restore  sa- 
lubrity to  the  moral  atmosphere. 
Who  that  for  the  first  time  beheld 
the  earth  in  the  midst  of  winter 
bound  up  with  frost,  or  drenched 
in  floods  of  rain,  or  covered  with 
snow,  would  have  imagined  that 
Nature,  in  this  dreary  and  torpid 
state,  was  working  towai'ds  its  own 
renovation  in  the  spring?  Yet  we 
by  experience  know  that  those  vi- 
cissitudes of  winter  are  necessary 
for  fertilizing  the  "earth  ;  and  that 
under  wintry  rains  and  snows  lie 
concealed  the  seeds  of  those  roses 
that  aie  to  blossom  in  the  spring  ; 
of  ihose  fruits  that  are  to  ripen  in 
tlie  summer  ;  and  of  the  corn  and 


wine  which  are  in  harvest  to  maker 
glad  the  heart  of  man.  It  would 
be  more  agreeable  to  us  to  be  al- 
ways entertained  with  a  fair  and 
clear  atmosphere,  with  cloudless 
skies,  and  perpetual  sunshine  ;  yet 
in  such  climates  as  we  have  most 
knowledge  of,  the  earth,  were  it 
always  to  remain  in  such  a  state, 
would  refuse  to  yield  its  fruits  j 
and,  in  the  midst  of  our  imagined 
scenes  of  beauty,  the  starved  in- 
habitants would  perish  for  want  of 
food.  Let  us,  therefore,  quietly 
submit  to  Providence.  Let  us 
conceive  this  life  to  be  the  winter 
of  our  existence.  Now  the  rains 
must  fall,  and  the  winds  must 
roar  around  us ;  but,  sheltering  our- 
selves under  Him,  who  is  the  "  co- 
vert from  the  tempest,"  let  us 
wait  with  patience  till  the  storms 
of  life  shall  terminate  in  an  ever- 
lasting calm.  Blair's  Ser.^  vol.  v, 
ser.  5  ;  Vincent^  Case^  and  Adding^ 
ton^  on  Afiiction  ;  Willisoi'Cs  ojfflict- 
ed  Mai'Hs  Companion. 

AGAP^,  or  Love  Feasts 
(from  ccyacw^  "  love") ,  feasts  of  cha- 
rity among  the  ancient  christians, 
when  liberal  contributions  were 
made  by  the  rich  to  the  poor.  St. 
Chrysostom  gives  the  following 
account  of  this  feast,  which  he  de- 
rives from  the  apostolic  practice. 
He  says, — "The  first  christians 
had  all  things  in  common,  as  we 
read  in  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles  ,; 
but  when  that  equality  of  posses- 
sions ceased,  as  it  did  even  in  the 
apostles'  time,  the  Agape  or  love 
feast  was  substituted  in  the  room 
of  it.  Upon  certain  days,  after 
partaking  of  the  Lord's  supper, 
they  met  at  a  common  feast ;  the 
rich  bringing  provisions,  and  the 


AGE 


19 


AGN 


poor,  who  had  nothing,  being  in- 
vited." It  was  always  attended 
-  with  receiving  the  holy  sacrament ; 
but  there  is  some  difference  be- 
tween the  ancient  and  modern  in- 
terpreters as  to  the  circumstance 
of  time ;  viz.  whether  this  feast  was 
held  before  or  after  the  commu- 
nion. St.  Chrysostom  is  of  the 
latter  opinion;  the  learned  Dr. 
Cave  of  the  former.  These  love 
feasts,  during  the  three  first  cen- 
turies, were  held  in  the  church 
■without  scandal  or  offence  ;  but  in 
after-times  the  heathens  began  to 
tax  them  with  impurity.  This  gave 
occasion  to  a  reformation  of  these 
Agapes.  The  kiss  of  charity,  with 
which  the  ceremony,  used  to  end, 
was  no  longer  given  between  dif- 
ferent sexes  ;  and  it  was  expressly 
forbidden  to  have  any  beds  or 
couches  for  the  conveniency  of 
those  who  should  be  disposed  to 
eat  more  at  their  ease.  Notwith- 
standing these  precautions,  the 
abuses  committed  in  them  became 
so  notorious,  that  the  holding  them 
(in  churches  at  least)  was  solemn- 
ly condemned  at  the  council  of 
Carthage  in  the  year  397".  At- 
tempts have  been  made,  of  late 
years,  to  revive  these  feasts  ;  but 
in  a  different  manner  from  the  pri- 
mitive custom,  and  perhaps,  with 
little  edification.  They  are,  how- 
ever, not  very  general. 

AGAPET^^,  a  name  given  to 
certain  virgins  and  widows,  who  in 
the  ancient  church  associated  them- 
selves with  and  attended  on  eccle- 
siastics, out  of  a  motive  of  piety 
and  charity.      See  Deaconesses. 

AGENDA,  among  divines  and 
philosophers,  signifies  the   duties 


which  a  man  lies  under  an  obliga- 
tion to  perform :  thus  we  meet 
with  the  agenda  of  a  christian,  or 
the  duties  he  ought  to  perform,  in 
opposition  to  the  credenda,  or 
things  he  is  to  believe.  It  is  also 
applied  to  the  service  or  ofHce  of 
the  church,  and  to  church  books 
compiled  by  public  authority,  pre- 
scribing the  order  to  be  observed  ; 
and  amounts  to  the  same  as  ritual, 
formulary,  directory,  missal,  &c. 

AGENT,  that  which  acts :  op- 
posed to  patient^  or  that  which  is 
acted  upon. 

AGENTS, moral.  See  Moral 

Agent. 

AGNOET^  (from  uywtu,  "to 
be  ignorant  of"),  a  sect  which  ap- 
peared about  370.  They  called  in 
question  the  omniscience  of  God  j 
alleging  that  he  knew  things  past 
only  by  memory,  and  things  fu- 
ture only  by  an  uncertain  presci- 
ence. There  arose  another  sect  of 
the  same  name  in  the  sixth  centu- 
ry, who  followed  Themistius, 
deacon  of  Alexandria.  They  main- 
tained that  Christ  was  ignorant  of 
certain  things,  and  particularly  of 
the  time  of  the  day  of  judgment. 
It  is  supposed  they  built  their 
hypothesis  on  that  passage  in  Mark 
xiii,  32 — "  Of  that  day  and  that 
hour  knoweth  no  man  ;  no,  not 
the  angels  which  are  in  heaven, 
neither  the  Son,  but  the  Father." 
The  meaning  of  which,  most  pro- 
bably, i^  that  this  was  not  known 
to  the  Messiah  himself  in  his  hu- 
man nature,  or  by  virtue  of  his 
unction,  as  any  part  of  the  myste- 
ries he  was  to  reveal ;  for,  consi- 
dering him  as  God,  he  could  not 
be  ignorant  of  any  thing. 


ALA 


20 


ALB 


AGNUS  DEI,  in  the  church  of 
Borne,  a  cake  of  wax,  stamped 
with  the  figure  of  a  lamb  support- 
ing the  banner  of  the  cross.  The 
name  literally  signifies,  "lamb  of 
God."  These  cakes,  being  con- 
secrated by  the  pope  with  great  so- 
lemnity, and  distributed  among 
the  people,  are  supposed  to  have 
great  virtues.  They  cover  tbem 
with  a  piece  of  stuff  cut  in  the  form 
of  an  heart,  and  carry  them  very 
devoutly  in  their  processions.  The 
Po^nish  priests  and  religious  de- 
rive considerable  pecuniary  advan- 
tage from  selling  these  agnus  dei 
to  some,  and  presenting  them  to 
others. 

AGONISTICI,  a  name  given 
by  Donatus  to  such  of  his  disciples 
as  he  sent  to  fairs,  markets,  and 
;  other  public  places,  to  propagate 
his  doctrine.  They  were  called 
Agonistrci  from  the  Greek  ayo» 
*'•  combat,"  because  they  were  sent, 
as  it  were,  to  fight  and  subdue  the 
people  to  their  opinions.     See  Do- 

NATIST. 

AGONYCLITiE,  a  sect  of 
christians  in  the  seventh  century, 
who  prayed  always  standing,  as 
thinking  it  unlawful  to  kneel. 

AGYNIANI,  a  sect  which  ap- 
peared about  694.  They  condemn- 
ed all  use  of  flesh  and  marriage  as 
not  instituted  by  God, but  introduc- 
ed at  the  instigation  of  the  devil. 

AL  ASC  ANI,  a  sect  of  Anti-lu- 
therans  in  the  sixteenth  century, 
whose  distinguishing  tenet,  be- 
sides their  denying  baptism,  is 
said  to  have  been  this,  that  the 
words,  "  This  is  my  body,"  in  the 
institution  of  the  eucharlst,  are  not 
to  be  understood  of  the  bread,  but 


of  the  whole  action  or  celebration 
of  the  supper. 

ALBANENSES,  a  denomi- 
nation which  commenced  about 
the  year  796.  They  held,  with  the 
Gnostics  and  Manicheans,  two 
principles,  the  one  of  good  and  the 
other  of  evil.  They  denied  the  di- 
vinity and  even  the  humanity  of 
Jesus  Christ ;  asserting  that  he 
was  not  truly  man,  did  not  suffer 
on  the  cross,  die,  rise  again,  nor 
really  ascend  into  heaven.  They 
rejected  the  doctrine  of  the  resur- 
rection, aflSirmed  that  the  general 
judgment  was  past,  and  that  htll 
torments  were  no  other  than  the 
evils  we  feel  and  suffer  in  this  life. 
They  denied  free  will,  did  not  ad" 
mit  origmal  sin,  and  never  admi- 
nistered baptism  to  infants.  They 
held  that  a  man  can  give  the  Holy 
Spirit  of  himself,  and  that  it  is  un- 
lawful for  a  christian  to  take  an 
oath. 

This  denomination  derived  their 
name  from  the  place  where  their 
spiritual  ruler  resided.  See  Ma- 
nicheans and  Catherist. 

ALBANOIS,  a  denomination 
which  sprung  up  in  the  eighth  cen- 
tury, and  renewed  the  greatest 
part  of  the  Manlchean  principles. 
They  also  maintained  that  the 
world  was  from  eternity.  See 
Manicheans. 

ALBIGENSES,  a  party  of  re- 
formers about  Toulouse  and  the 
Albigeois  in  Languedoc,  who 
sprung  up  in  the  twelfth  century, 
and  distinguished  themselves  by 
their  opposition  to  the  church  of 
Rome.  They  were  charged  with 
many  errors  by  the  monies  of  those 
days ;  but  from  these  charges  they 


ALE 


21 


ALL 


are  generally  acquitted  by  the  Pro- 
testants, who  consider  them  only 
as  the  inventions  of  the  Romish 
church  to  blacken  their  character. 
The  Albigenses  grew  so  formida- 
ble, that  the  Catholics  agreed 
upon  a  holy  league  or  crusade 
against  them.  Pope  Innocent  III, 
desirous  to  put  a  stop  to  their  pro- 
gress, stirred  up  the  great  men  of 
the  kingdom  to  make  war  upon 
them.  After  suffering  from  their 
persecutors,  they  dwindled  by  lit- 
tle and  litde,  till  the  time  of  the 
reformation ;  when  such  of  them 
as  were  left  fell  in  with  the  Vau- 
dois,  and  conformed  to  the  doc- 
trine of  Zuinglius,  and  the  disci- 
ples of  Geneva.  The  Albigenses 
have  been  frequently  confounded 
with  the  Waldenses  ;  from  whom 
it  is  said  they  differ  in  many  re- 
spects, both  as  being  prior  to  them 
in  point  of  time,  as  having  their 
origin  in  a  different  country,  and 
as  being  charged  with  divers  he- 
resies, particularly  Manicheism, 
from  which  the  Waldenses  were 
exempt.     See  Waldenses. 

ALEXANDRIAN  MANU- 
SCRIPT, a  famous  copy  of  the 
scriptures,  in  four  volumes  quarto. 
It  contains  the  whole  Bible  in 
Greek,  including  the  Old  and  New 
Testament,  with  the  Apocrj'pha, 
and  some  smaller  pieces,  but  not 
quite  complete.  It  is  preserved 
in  the  British  Museum :  it  was 
sent  as  a  present  to  king  Charles 
I.  from  Cyrillus  Lucaris,  patriarch 
of  Constantinople,  by  Sir  Thomas 
Rowe,  ambassador  from  England 
to  the  Grand  Seignior,  about  the 
year  1628.  Cyrillus  brought  it 
with  him  from  Alexandria,  where 
probably  it  v/as  v.rittea.      In  a 


schedule  annexed  to  it,  he  gives 
this  account: — That  it  was  writ- 
ten, as  tradition  iiformed  them, 
by  Thecla,  a  noble  Egyptian  lady, 
about  1300  years  ago,  not  long 
after  the  council  of  Nice.  But 
this  high  antiquity,  and  the  au- 
thority of  the  tradition  to  which 
the  patriarch  refers,  have  been 
disputed ;  nor  are  the  most  accu- 
rate biblical  writers  agreed  about 
its  age.  Grabe  thinks  that  it 
might  have  been  written  before 
the  end  of  the  fourth  century; 
others  are  of  opinion  that  it  was 
not  written  till  near  the  end  of 
the  fifth  century,  or  somewhat 
later.  See  Dr.  Woide's  edition 
of  it. 

ALKORAN.    See  Koran. 

ALL-SUFFICIENCY  OF 
GOD,  is  that  power  or  attribute  of 
his  nature  whereby  he  is  able  to 
communicate  as  much  blessedness 
to  his  creatures  as  he  is  pleased  to 
make  them  capable  of  receiving. 
As  his  self-fiufftciency  is  that  where- 
by he  has  enough  in  himself  to  de- 
nominate him  completely  blessed, 
as  a  God  of  infinite  perfection,  so 
his  all-siifficiency  is  that  by  which 
he  hath  enough  in  himself  to  sa- 
tisfy the  most  enlarged  desires  of 
his  creatures,  and  to  make  them 
completely  blessed.  We  practical- 
ly deny  this  perfection,  when  we 
are  discontented  with  our  present, 
condition,  and  desire  more  than 
God  has  allotted  for  us.  Gen.  iii, 
5.  Prov.xix,3. — 2.  When  we  seek 
blessings  of  what  kind  soever  in  an 
indirect  way,  as  though  God  were 
not  able  to  bestow  them  upon  us 
in  his  own  way,  or  in  the  use  of 
lawful  means,  Gen.  xxvii,  ^5. — ■ 
3.  When  we  use  uulav,  lul  means 


A  L  M 


22 


ALM 


^vto  escape  imminent  dangers,  1st 
Sam.  xxi,  13.  Gen.  xx  and  xxvi. 
— 4<.  When  we  distrust  his  provi- 
dence, though  we  have  had  large 
experience  of  his  appearing  for  us 
in  various  instances,  1  st  Sam.  xxvii, 
.1.  Ps.  Ixxviii,  19.  2d  Chron.  xvi, 
S.  2d  Chron.  xiv,  9,  13.  Josh,  vii, 
^,  9. — 5.  When  we  doubt  of  the 
truth  or  certain  accomplishment  of 
the  promises.  Gen.  xviii,  12.  Ps. 
Ixxvii,  74.  Is.  xlix,  14. — 6.  When 
,we  decline  great  services,  though 
called  to  them  by  God,  under  a 
pretence  of  our  unfitness  for  them, 
Jer.  i,  6,  8.  _ 

The  consideration  of  this  doc- 
trine should  lead  us,  1.  To  seek 
happiness  in  God  alone,  and  not 
in  human  things,  Jer.  ii,  13. — 2. 
To  commit  all  oi;r  wants  and  trials 
to  him,  1st  Sam.  xxx,  6.  Heb.  xi, 

19.  2d  Cor.  xii,  8,  9 3.    To  be 

courageous  in  the  midst  of  danger 
and  opposition,  Ps.  xxvii,  1. — 4. 
To  be  satisfied  with  his  dispensa- 
tions, Rom.  viii,  28. — 5.  To  per- 
severe in  the  path  of  duty,  howe- 
ver difficult,  Gen.  xvii,  1.     Ridg- 

■  leifs  Bod'j  of  Div.,  ques.  \7;  Sou-] 
riri's  Ser.,  ser.  5,  vol.  i;  Barrow^s 
Works,  vol.  ii,  ser.  11. 

ALMARICIANS,  a  denomi- 
nation that  arose  in  the  thirteenth 
century.  They  derived  their  origin 
from  Almaric,  professor  of  logic 
and  theology  at  Paris.  His  adver- 
saries charged  him  with  having 
taught  that  every  christian  was 
obliged  to  believe  himself  a  mem- 
ber of  Jesus  Christ,  apd  that  with- 
out this  belief  none  could  be  sav- ' 

-ed.  His  followers  asserted  that  the 
power  of  the  Father  had  continued 
only  during  the  Mosaic  dispensa- 
tion, that  of  the  Son  twelve  hun- 


dred years  after  his  entrance  upon 
earth;  and  that  in  the  thirteenth 
century  the  age  of  the  Holy  Spirit 
commenced,  in  which  the  sacra-  . 
ments  and  all  external  worship 
were  to  be  abolished;  and  that 
ever}^  one  was  to  be  saved  bv  the 
internal  operations  of  the  Holy 
Spirit  alone,  without  any  external 
act  of  religion. 

ALMONER,  a  person  employ- 
ed bv  another  in  the  distribution  of 
charity.  In  its  primitive  sense  it 
denoted  an  officer  in  religious 
houses,  to  whom  belonged  the  ma- 
nagement and  distribution  of  the 
alms  of  the  house. 

ALMS,  what  is  given  gratuit- 
ously for  the  relief  of  the  poor. 
Alms,  in  the  early  ages  of  Christi- 
anity, were  divided  into  four  parts ; 
one  of  which  'vas  allotted  to  the  bi- 
shops, another  to  the  priests,  a 
third  to  the  deacons  and  subdea- 
cons,  and  the  fourth  was  employed 
in  relieving  the  poor,  and  in  re- 
pairing the  churches.  In  giving 
of  alms,  the  following  rules  should 
be  observed :  first,  thev  should  be 
given  with  justice;  onlv  our  own^ 
to  which  we  have  a  just  rights 
should  be  given. — 2.  With  cheer- 
fulness^ Deut.  XV,  10.  2d  Cor.  ix, 
7. — 3.  With  shnpUcity  and  since- 
rity^ Romans  xii.  Matt,  vi,  3. — 4. 
With  compassion  and  affection.,  Is. 
Iviii,  10.  1st  John  iii,  17. — 5.  Sea- 
sonabhj^  Gal.  vi,  10.  Prov.  iv,  29. 
— 6.  Bountifully.,  Deut.  xviii,  11. 
1st  Tim.  vi,  18.- — 7.  Prudently.,  ac- 
cording to  every  one's  need,  1st 
Tim.  V,  8.  Acts  iv.  25.  See  Dr. 
BarrofJ's  admirable  Sermon  on 
Bounty  to  the  Poor.,  -which  took  him 
up  three  hours  and  a  half  in  preach-' 
ing;  Saurin''s  Ser.^  \oI.  iv,  En^* 


AMB 


23 


A  ME 


Trans. y  ser.  9 ;  Paleifs  Mor.  Phil.^ 
ch.  5,  vol.  i. 

ALOGI ANS,  a  sect  of  ancient 
heretics  who  denied  that  Jesus 
Christ  was  the  Logos,  and  conse- 
quently rejected  the  gospel  of  St. 
John.  The  word  is  compounded 
of  the  privative  a,  and  Acy^s ;  q.  d. 
xvithout  logos^  or  word.  They  made 
their  appearance  toward  the  close 
of  the  second  century. 

ALTAR,  a  kind  of  table  or 
raised  place  whereon  the  ancient 
sacrifices  were  offered.  2.  The  ta^ 
ble,  in  christian  churches,  where 
the  Lord's  supper  is  administered. 
Altars  are,  doubtless,  of  great  an- 
tiquity j  some  suppose  they  were 
as  early  as  Adam ;  but  there  is  no 
mention  made  of  them  till  after  the 
flood,  when  Noah  built  one,  and 
offered  burnt  offerings  on  it.  The 
Jews  had  two  altars  in  and  about 
their  temple  ;  1 ,  the  altar  of  burnt 
offerings;  2,  the  altar  of  incense  ; 
some  also  call  the  table  for  shew- 
bread  an  altar,  but  improperl)-, 
Exod.  XX,  24,  25.  1st  Kings  xviii, 
30.  Exod.  XXV,  xxvii,  and  xxx. 
Heb.  ix. 

AMAZEMENT,  aterm  some- 
times employed  to  express  our 
wonder;  but  it  is  rather  to  be  con- 
sidered as  a  medium  between  won- 
der and  astonishment.  It  is  mani- 
festly borrowed  from  the  extensive 
and  complicated  intricacies  of  a  la- 
byrinth, in  which  there  are  endless 
mazes,  without  the  discovery  of  a 
clue.  Hence  an  idea  is  conveyed  of 
more  than  simple  wonder ;  the  mind 
is  lost  in  wonder.  See  Wonder. 

AMBITION,  a  desire  of  excel- 
ling, or  at  least  of  being  thought  to 
excel,  our  neighbours  in  any  thing. 
It  is  generally  used  in  a  bad  sense 


for  an  immoderate  or  illegal  pur^ 
suit  of  power  or  honour.  See 
Praise. 

AMEDIANS,  a  congregation 
of  religious  in  Italy ;  so  called  from 
their  professing  themselves  aman- 
tes  Deum,  "  lovers  of  God;"  or 
rather  amati  Deo^  "  beloved  of 
God."  They  wore  a  grey  habit' 
and  wooden  shoes,  had  no  breech- 
es, and  girt  themselves  with  a  cord. 
They  had  twenty-eight  convents, 
and  were  united  by  pope  Pius  \% 
partly  with  the  Bistercian  order, 
and  partly  with  that  of  the'  Socco- 
lanti,  or  wooden  shoe  wearers. 

AMEN,  a  Hebrew  word,  which, 
when  prefixed  to  an  assertion,  sig- 
nifies assuredly^  certainly^  or  em- 
phatically so  it  is;  but  when  it 
concludes  a  prayer,  so  be  it^  or  so 
let  it  be^  is  its  manifest  import.  In 
the  former  case  it  is  assertive^  or 
assures  of  a  truth  or  a  fact ;  and 
is  an  asseveration,  and  is,  properly 
translated,  verily^  John  iii,  3.  In 
the  latter  case  it  is  petitionarif^ 
and,  as  it  were,  epitomizes  all  the 
requests  with  which  it  stands  con- 
nected. Numb.  V,  22.  Rev.  xxii, 
20.  This  emphatical  tei-m  was 
not  used  among  the  Hebrews  by 
detached  individuals  only,  but,  on 
certain  occasions,  by  an  assembly 
at  large,  Deut.  xxvii,  14,  26.  It 
was  adopted,  also,  in  the  public 
worship  of  the  primitive  churches, 
as  appears  by  that  passage,  1st 
Cor.  xiv,  26,  and  was  continued 
among  the  christians  in  following 
times  ;  yea,  such  was  the  extremfc 
into  which  man}'  run,  that  Jerome 
informs  us,  in  his  time,  that,  at 
the  conclusion  of  every  public 
prayer,  the  united  amen  of  the 
people  sounded  like   the    fall  of 


AMY 


24 


ANA 


water^  or  the  noise  of  thunder. 
Nor  is  the  practice  of  some  pro- 
fessors in  our  own  time  to  be  com- 
mended, who,  with  a  low,  though 
audible  voice,  add  their  amen  to 
almost  every  sentence  as  it  pro- 
ceeds from  the  lips  of  him  who  is 
praying.  As  this  has  a  tendency 
to  interrupt  the  devotion  of  those 
that  are  near  them,  and  may  dis- 
concert the  thoughts  of  him  who 
leads  the  worship,  it  would  be 
better  omitted,  and  a  mental  amen 
is  sufficient.  The  term,  as  used 
at  the  end  of  our  prayers,  suggests 
that  we  should  pray  with  under- 
standing, faith,  fervor,  and  expec- 
tation. See  Mr.  Booth} s  Amen  to 
social  Prayers, 

AMMONIANS.  See  New 
Platonics. 

AMSDORFIANS,  a  sect,  in 
the  sixteenth  century,  who  took 
their  name  from  Amsdorf,  their 
leader.  They  maintained  that  good 
works  were  not  only  unprofitable, 
but  were  obstacles  to  salvation. 

AMYRALDISM,  a  name  giv- 
en by  some  writers  to  the  doctrine 
of  universal  grace,  as  explained 
and  asserted  by  Amyraldus  or 
jMoses  Amyrault,  and  others,  his 
follov/ers,  among  the  reformed  in 
France,  towards  the  middle  of  the 
seventeenth  century.  This  doc- 
trine principally  consisted  of  the 
foUowingparticulars,  viz.  that  God 
desires  the  happiness  of  ail  men, 
and  none  are  excluded  by  a  divine 
decree ;  that  none  can  obtain  salva- 
tion without  faith  in  Christ ;  that 
God  refuses  to  none  the  power  of 
believing, though  he  doesnotgrant 
to  all  his  assistance  that  they  may 
improve  this  power  to  saving  pur- 


poses ;  and  that  many  perish  thro* 
their  own  fault.  Those  who  em- 
braced this  doctrine  were  call'jd 
Universalists ;  though  it  is  evident 
they  rendered  grace  universal  in 
words,  but  partial  in  reality.  See 
Cameronites. 

ANABAPTISTS,  those  who 
maintain  that  baptism  ought  always 
to  be  performed  by  immersion. 
The  word  is  compounded  of  avo, 
"  new,"  and  Hairlnrfis^  "  a  Baptist ;" 
signifying  that  those  v/ho  have  been 
baptized  in  their  infancy  ought  to 
be  baptized  anew.  It  is  a  word 
which  has  been  indiscriminately 
applied  to  christians  of  very  differ- 
ent principles  and  practices.  The 
English  and  Dutch  Baptists  do  not 
consider  the  word  as  at  all  appli- 
cable to  their  sect ;  because  those 
persons  whom  they  baptize  they 
consider  as  never  having  been  bap- 
tized before,  although  they  have 
undergone  what  they  term  the 
ceremony  of  sprinkling  in  their 
infancy. 

The  Anabaptists  of  Germany, 
besides  their  notions  concerning 
baptism,  depended  much  upon  cer- 
tam  ideas  which  they  entertained 
concerning  a  perfect  church  esta- 
blishment, pure  in  its  members, 
and  free  from  the  institutions  of 
human  policy.  The  most  pru- 
dent part  of  them  considered  it 
possible,  by  human  industry  and 
vigilance,  to  purify  the  church; 
and,  seeing  the  attempts  of  Luther 
to  be  successful,  they  hoped  that 
the  period  was  arrived  in  v/hich 
the  church  was  to  be  restored  to 
this  purity.  Others,  not  satisfied 
with  Luther's  plan  of  reformation, 
undertook  a  more  perfect  plan,  or, 


N  A 


25 


A  N  A 


more  properly,  a  visionary  enter- 
prise, to  found  a  new  church 
entirely  spiritual  and  divine. 

This  sect  was  soon  joined  by 
great  nunibers,  whose  characters 
and  capacities  were  very  different. 
Their  progress  was  rapid ;  for,  in 
a  very  short  space  of  time,  their 
discourses,  visions,  and  predic- 
tions, excited  great  commotions 
in  a  great  part  of  Europe.  The 
most  pernicious  faction  of  all 
those  which  composed  this  motley 
multitude,  was  that  which  pretend- 
ed that  the  founders  of  this  nexv 
and  perfect  church  were  under  a 
divine  impulse,  and  were  armed 
against  all  opposition  by  the  pow- 
er of  working  miracles.  It  was  this 
faction,  that,  in  the  year  1521,  be- 
gan their  fanatical  work  under  the 
guidance  of  Munzer,  Stubner, 
Storck,  &c.  These  men  taught, 
that,  among  christians,  who  had 
the  precepts  of  the  gospel  to  direct 
and  the  Spirit  of  God  to  guide 
tliem,  the  office  of  magistracy  was 
not  only  unnecessary,  but  an  un- 
lawful encroachment  on  their  spi- 
ritual liberty  ;  that  the  distinctions 
occasioned  by  birth,  rank,  or 
wealth,  should  be  abolished  ;  that 
all  christians,  throwing  their  pos- 
sessions into  one  stock,  should  live 
together  in  that  state  of  equality 
which  becomes  members  of  the 
same  family  ;  that,  as  neither  the 
laws  of  Nature,  nor  the  precepts 
of  the  New  Testament,  had  pro- 
hibited polygamy,  they  should  use 
the  same  liberty  as  the  patriarchs 
did  in  this  respect. 

They  employed,  at  first,  the  va- 
rious arts  of  persuasion,  in  order 
to  propagate  their  doctrines  ;  and 
related  a  number  of  visions  and  re- 

VoL.  I.  E 


velations,  with  vrhich  thevpvetend- 
ed  to  have  been  favoured  from 
above  ;  but,  when  they  found  that 
this  would  not  avail,  and  that  the 
ministry  of  Luther  and  other  re- 
formers was  detrimental  to  their 
cause,  they  then  madly  attempted 
to  propagate  their  sentiments  by 
force  of  arms.  Munzer  and  his 
associates,  in  the  year  1525,  put 
themselves  at  the  head  of  a  nume- 
rous army,and  declared  war  against 
all  laws,  governments,  and  magis- 
trates of  every  kind,  under  the  chi- 
merical pretext,  thatChristhimself 
was  now  to  take  the  reins  of  all 
government  into  his  hands ;  but 
this  seditious  crowd  was  routed 
and  dispersed  by  the  elector  of 
Saxony  and  other  princes,  and 
Munzer,  their  leader,  put  to  death. 
Many  of  his  followers,  however, 
survived,  and  propagated  their 
opinions  through  Germany,  Swit- 
zerland, and  Holland.  In  1533 
a  party  of  them  settled  at  Mun- 
ster,  under  two  leaders  of  the 
names  of  Matthias  and  Bockholdt. 
Having  made  themselves  masters 
of  the  city,  they  deposed  the  ma- 
gistrates, confiscated  the  estates  of 
such  as  had  escaped,  and  deposited 
the  wealth  in  a  public  treasurv  for 
common  use.  They  made  prepa- 
rations for  the  defence  of  the  citv  ; 
invited  the  Anabaptists  in  the  low 
countries  to  assemijle  at  Munster, 
which  they  called  Mount  Sion, 
that  from  thence  they  might  re- 
duce all  the  nations  of  the  earth 
under  their  dominion.  Matthias 
was  soon  cut  off  by  the  bishop  of 
Munster's  army,  and  was  succeed- 
ed by  Bcjckholdt,  who  was  pro- 
claimed, by  a  special  designation 
of  heaven,  as  the  pretended  king 


ANA 


26 


A  N  A 


of  Sion,  and  invested  with  legisla- 
tive powers  like  those  of  Moses. 
The  city  of  Munster,  however, 
was  taken,  after  a  long  siege,  and 
Bockholdt  punished  with  death. 

It  must  be  acknowledged  that 
the  true  rise  of  the  insurrections  of 
this  period  ought  not  to  be  attri- 
buted to  religious  opinions.  The 
first  insurgents  groaned  under  se- 
vere oppressions,  and  took  up 
arms  in  defence  of  their  civil  liber- 
ties ;  and  of  these  commotions  the 
Anabaptists  seemed  rather  to  have 
availed  themselves,  than  to  have 
been  the  prime  movers.  That  a 
great  part  was  Anabaptists,  seems 
indisputable  ;  at  the  same  time  it 
appears  from  history,  that  a  great 
part  also  were  Roman  catholics, 
and  a  still  greater  part  of  those 
who  had  scarcely  any  religious 
principles  at  all.  Indeed,  when  we 
read  of  the  vast  numbers  that  were 
concerned  in  these  insurrections, 
of  whom  it  is  reported  that  100,000 
fell  by  the  sword,  it  appears  rea- 
sonable to  conclude  that  they  were 
not  all  Anabaptists. 

It  is  but  justice  to  observe  also, 
that  the  Baptists  in  England  and 
Holland  are  to  be  considered  in  a 
different  light  from  those  above 
mentioned  :  they  profess  an  equal 
aversion  to  all  principles  of  rebel- 
lion on  the  one  hand,  and  to  en- 
thusiasm on  the  other.  See  Ro- 
bertsoii's  Hist,  of  Charles  V.  ;  Enc. 
Brit.,  vol.  i,  p.  644 ;  and  articles 
Baptists  and  Menkonites. 

ANALOGY  OF  FAITH,  is 
the  proportion  that  the  doctrines  of 
the  gospel  bear  ta  each  other,  or 
the  close  connexon  between  the 
truths  of  revealed  religion,  Rom. 
xii,  6»  This  is   considered   as   a 


grand  rule  for  understanding  the 
true  sense  of  scripture.  It  is  evi- 
dent that  th,e  Almighty  doth  not 
act  without  a  design  in  the  system 
of  Christianity  any  more  than  he 
does  in  the  works  of  Nature.  Now 
this  design  must  be  uniform  ;  for 
as  in  the  system  of  the  universe 
every  part  is  proportioned  to  the 
whole,  and  made  subservient  to  it, 
so  in  the  system  of  the  gospel  all 
the  various  truths,  doctrines,decla- 
rations,  precepts,  and  promises, 
must  correspond  with  and  tend 
to  the  end  designed.  For  instance, 
supposing  the  glory  of  God  in  the 
salvation  of  man  by  free  grace  be 
the  grand  design  ;  then  whatever 
doctrine,  assertion,  or  hypothesis, 
agree  not  with  this,  it  is  to  be 
considered  as  false. — Great  care, 
however,  must  be  taken,  in  mak- 
ing use  of  this  method,  that  the 
enquirer  previousl)' understand  the 
whole  scheme,  and  that  he  harbour 
not  a  predilection  only  for  a  part ; 
without  attention  to  this,  we  shall 
be  liable  to  error.  If  we  come  to 
the  scriptures  with  any  precon- 
ceived opinions,  and  are  more 
desirous  to  put  that  sense  upon 
the  text  which  quadrates  with 
our  sentiments  rather  than  the 
truth,  it  becomes  then  the  ana- 
logy of  our  faith,-  rather  than 
that  of  the  whole  sVstem.  This 
v/as  the  source  of  the  error  of 
the  Jews,  in  our  Saviour's  time. 
They  searched  the  scriptures ;  but, 
such  were  their  favourite  opi- 
nions, that  they  could  not,  or 
would  not,  discover  that  the  sa- 
cred volume  testified  'of  Christ. 
And  the  reason  was  evident, 
for  their  great  rule  of  interpre- 
tation was  v/hat  they  might  call 


ANA 


27 


ANG 


the  analogy  of  faith  ;  u  e.  the  sys- 
tem of  the  Pharisean  scribes,  the 
doctrine  then  in  vogue,  and  in  the* 
profound  veneration  of  which  they 
had  been  educated.  Perhaps 
there  is  hardly  any  sect  but  what 
has  more  or  less  been  guilty  in 
this  respect.  It  may,  however, 
be  of  use  to  the  serious  and  can- 
did enquirer  ;  for,  as  some  texts 
may  seem  to  contradict  each  other, 
and  difficulties  may  present  them- 
selves, by  keeping  the  analogy  of 
faith  in  view,  he  will  the  more  ea- 
sily resolve  those  difficulties,  and 
collect  the  true  sense  of  the  sa- 
cred oracles.  What  "  the  apho- 
risms of  Hippocrates  are  to  aphy- 
"sician,  the  axioms  in  geometry  to 
a  mathematician,  the  adjudged 
cases  in  law  to  a  counsellor,  or  the 
maxims  of  war  to  a  general,  such 
is  the  analogy  of  faith  to  a  chris- 
tian." Of  the  analogy  of  religion 
to  the'  constitution  and  course  of 
nature,  we  must  refer  our  rea- 
ders to  bishop  Butler's  excellent 
treatise  on  that  subject. 

ANACHORETS,  or  Ancho- 
rites, a  sort  of  monks  in  the  pri- 
mitive ^hurch,  who  retired  from 
the  society  of  mankind  into  some 
desert  with  a  view  to  avoid  the 
temptations  of  the  world,  and  to 
be  more  at  leisure  for  prayer,  me- 
ditation, &c.  Such  were  Paul, 
Anthony,  and  Hilarion,  the  first 
foundei-3  of  monastic  life  in  Egypt 
and  Palestine. 

ANAGOGICAL,  signifies 
mysterious,  transporting  ;  and  is 
used  to  express  whatever  elevates 
the  mind,  not  only  to  the  knowledge 
of  divine  things,  but  of  divine  things 
in  the  next  lile.  The  word  is  sel- 
dom used,  but  with  regard  to  the 


different  senses  of  scripture.  The 
anagogical  sense  is,  when  the  sa- 
cred text  is  explained  with  regard 
to  eternal  life,  the  point  which 
christians  should  have  in  view  ;  for 
example,  the  rest  of  the  sabbath, 
in  the  anagogical  sense,  signifies 
the  repose  of  everlastinghappiness. 

ANATHEMA,  imports  what- 
ever is  set  apart,  separated,  or  di- 
vided ;  but  is  most  usually  meant 
to  express  the  cutting  off  of  a  per- 
son from  the  communion  of 
the  faithful.  It  was  practised  in 
the  primitive  church  against  noto- 
rious offenders.  Several  councils 
also  have  pronounced  anathemas 
against  such  as  they  thought  cor- 
rupted the  purity  of  the  faith. 
Anathema  Maranatha^  mentioned 
by  Paul  (1st  Cor.  xiv,  22,)  imports 
that  he  who  loves  not  the  Lord  Je- 
sus v/ill  be  accursed  at  his  coming. 
^na^Aema  signifies  a  thing  devoted 
to  destruction,  and  Maranatha  is 
a  Syriac  word,  signifying  the  Lord 
comes.  It  is  probable  in  this  pas- 
sage there  is  an  allusion  to  the 
form  of  the  Jews,  who,  when  un- 
able to  inflict  so  great  a  punish- 
ment as  the  crime  deserved,  de- 
voted the  culprit  to  the  immediate 
vindictive  retribution  of  divine 
vengeance,  both  in  this  life  and  in 
a  future  state. 

ANDRONA,  a  term  used  for 
that  part  in  churches  which  was  de- 
stined for  the  men.  Anciently,  it 
was  the  custom  for  the  men  and 
women  to  have  separate  apart- 
ments in  places  of  worship,  where 
they  performed  their  devotions 
asunder,  which  method  is  still  re- 
ligiously observed  in  the  Greek 
church. 

ANGEL,  a  spiritual  intelligent 


A  N  G 


28 


ANG 


substance,  the  first  in  rank  and  dig- 
nity among  created  beings.  The 
word  angel  (a,yyiXos)  is  Greek,  and 
signifies  a  messenger.  The  He- 
brew word  *7  .s'S  o  signifies'the  same. 
Angels,  therefore,  in  the  proper 
signification  of  the  word,  do  not 
import  the  natm-e  of  any  being, 
but  only  the  office  to  which  they 
are  appointed,  especially  by  way 
of  message  or  intercourse  between 
God  and  his  creatures.  Hence 
the  word  is  used  difiJcrently  in  va- 
rious parts  of  the  scripture,  and 
signifies,  1.  Human  messengers,  or 
agents  for  others,  2d  Sam.  ii,  5. 
"  David  sent  messengers  (Heb. 
angels)  to  Jabesh  Gilead,  Prov. 
xiii,  17.  Mark  i,  2.  James  ii,  25. — 
2.  Officers  of  the  churches,  whe- 
ther prophets  or  ordinary  minis- 
ters, Hag.  i,    13.  Rev.  i.  20 3. 

Jesus  Christ,  Mai.  iii,  1.  Is.  Ixiii, 
9. — 4.  Some  add  the  dispensations 
of  God's  providence,  either  bene- 
ficial or  calamitous.  Gen.  xxiv,  7. 
Ps.  xxxivJ-T.  Actsxii,  23.  1st  Sam. 
xvi,  14 ;  but  1  must  confess,  that, 
though  I  do  not  at  ail  see  the  im- 
propriety of  considering  the  pro- 
vidences oi  God  as  Ins  angels  or 
messengers  for  good  or  for  evil, 
yet  th«  passages  generally  educed 
under  this  head  do  not  prove  to- 
me that  tlie  providences  of  God 
are  meant  in  distinction  from  cre- 
ated angels. — 5.  Created  intelli- 
gences, both  good  and  bad,  Keb. 
i,  14.  Jud.  vi,  the  subject  of  the 
present  article. — As  tu  the  time 
wheri  the  angels  were  created, 
much  has  been  said  by  the  learned. 
Some  v/onder  that-  Moses,  in  his 
account  of  the  creation,  should  pass 
this  over  in  silence.  Others  suppose 
that  he   did  this  because   of  the 


proneness  of  the  Gentile  world, 
and  even  the  Jews,  to  idolatry ;  but 
a  better  reason  has  been  assigned 
by  others,  viz.  that  this  first  history 
was  purposely  and  principally  writ- 
ten for  information  concerning  the 
visible  world ;  the  invisible,  of 
which  we  know  but  in  part,  being 
reserved  for  a  better  life.  Some 
think  that  the  idea  of  God's  not 
creating  them  before  this  world 
was  made,  is  very  contracted. 
To  suppose,  say  they,  that  no 
creatures  whatever,  neither  angels 
nor  other  worlds,  had  been  created 
previous  to  the  creation  of  our 
world,  is  to  suppose  that  a  Being 
of  infinite  power,  wisdom,  and 
goodness,  had  remained  totally  in- 
active from  all  eternity,  and  had 
permitted  the  infinity  of  space  to 
continue  a  perfect  vacuum  till 
within  these  6000  years  ;  that  such 
an  idea  only  tends  to  discredit  re- 
velation, insteadof  serving  it.  On 
the  other  hand  it  is  alleged,  that 
they  must  have  been  created  with- 
in the  six  days  ;  because  it  is  said, 
that  within  this  space  God  made 
heaven  and  earth,  and  all  things 
that  are  therein.  It  is,  however, 
a  needless  speculation,  and  we 
dare  not  indulge  a  spirit  of  con- 
jecture. It  is  our  happiness  to 
know  that  they  are  all  ministering 
spirits,  sent  forth  to  minister  to 
1  them  who  are  heirs  of  salvation. 

As  to  the  nature  of  these  beings, 
we  are  told  that  they  are  spirits  ; 
but  whether  pure  spirits  divested 
of  all  matter,  or  united  to  some 
thin  bodies  or  corporeal  vehicles, 
has  been  a  controversy  of  long 
standing:  the  more  general  opinion 
is,  that  they  are  substances  entirely 
spiritual,  though  they  can  at  any 


ANG 


29 


A  N  G 


lime  assume  bodies,  and  appear 
in  human  shape,  Gen.  xviii,  and 
xix.  Gen.  xxxii.  Matt,  xxviii. 
Luke  i,  &c.  The  scriptures  re- 
present them  as  endued  with  ex- 
traordinary wisdom  and  power, 
2d  Sam.  xiv,  20.  Ps.  ciil,  20;  holy, 
and  regular  in  their  inclinations  ; 
zealous  in  their  emplo}',  and  com- 
pletely happy  in  their  minds.  Job 
xxxviii,  7.  Heb.  i,  7.  Matt,  xviii, 
10.  Their  number  seems  to  be 
great,  Ps.  Ixviii,  17.  Heb.  xii,  22  ; 
and  perhaps  have  distinct  orders, 
Col.  i,  16,  17.  1st  Pet.  iii,  22.  1st 
Thess.  iv,  16.  Dan.  x,  13.  They 
arc  delighted  with  the  grand 
scheme  of  redemption,  and  the 
conversion  of  sinners  to  God, 
Luke  ii,  12.  1st  Pet.  i,  12.  Luke 
XV,  10.  They  not  only  worship 
God,  and  execute  his  commands 
at  large,  but  are  attendant  on  the 
saints  of  God  while  here  below, 
Ps.  xci,  11,  12.  Heb.  i,  13.  Luke 
xvi,  22.  Some  Conjecture  that 
every  good  man  has  his  particular 
guardian  angel.  Matt,  xviii,  10. 
Acts  xii,  15  ;  but  this  is  easier  to 
be  supposed  than  to  be  proved ; 
nor  is  it  a  matter  of  consequence 
to  know.  "  What  need  we  dis- 
pute," says  Heniy,  *'  whether 
every  particular  saint  has  a 
guardian  angel,  when  we  are  sure 
he  has  a  guard  of  angels  about 
him?"  They  will  gather  the  elect 
in  the  last  day,  attend  the  final 
judgment,  Matt,  xxv,  31.  Rev. 
xiv,  18.  Matt,  xiii,  39,  and  live 
for  ever  in  the  v/orld  of  glory, 
Luke  XX,  36. 

Although  the  angels  were  ori- 
ginally created  perfect,  yet  they 
were  mutable:  soiue  of  them  sin- 
ned, and  kept  not  their  first  estate  ; 
and  so,  of  the  most  bksscd  and  glo 


rious,  became  the  most  vile  and 
miserable  of  all  God's  creatures. 
They  were  expelled  the  regions  of 
light,  and  with  heaven  lost  their 
heavenly  disposition,  and  fell  into 
a  settled  rancour  against  God,  and 
malice  against  men.  What  their 
oifence  was,  is  difficult  to  detcr- 
niine,  the  scripture  being  silent 
about  it.  Some  think  envy,  others 
unbelief;  but  most  suppose  it  was 
pride.  As  to  the  time  of  their 
fall,  v»e  are  certain  it  could  not  be 
before  the  sixth  day  of  the  creation, 
because  on  that  day  it  is  said — 
"  God  saw  every  thing  that  he  had 
made,  and  behold  it  was  very 
good;"  but  that  it  was  not  long 
after,  is  very  probable,  as  it  must 
have  preceded  the  fall  of  our  first 
parents.  Their  number  seems  to  be 
great,  and  there  appears  fron* 
scripture  to  be  various  orders 
among  them,  Matt,  xii,  24.  Eph. 
ii,  2.  Eph.  vi,  12.  Col.  ii,  15.  Rev. 
xii,  7.  Their  constant  employ  is 
not  only  doing  evil  themselves, 
but  endeavouring  by  all  arts  to  se- 
duce and  pervert  mankind,  1st  Pet. 
V,  8.  Job  i,  6.  It  is  supposed  they 
will  be  restrained  during  the  mil- 
lennium. Rev.  XX,  2,  but  afterwards 
again,  for  a  short  time,  deceive  the 
nations,  Rev.  xx,  8,  and  then 
finally  punished,  J\Iatt.  xxv,  41. 
The  authors  who  have  written  ou 
this  subject  have  been  very  nume- 
rous; we  shall  only  refer  to  a 
few:  Reipwldii's  Enqiury  into  the 
Slate  and  Economy  of  the  Angeli- 
cal JVorld;  Doddridge^a  Ltct.^  p. 
10,  lect.  210  to  214;  Jlilton's  Pa- 
radise Lost;  Bp.  A'ewto?i's  Works^ 
vol.  iii,  p.  50,S^  568 ;  Shepherd  cf 
Angels ;  Gilpin  on  Tor.ptation ; 
Casnianni  Angelographia;  Gill  and 
RidgL-fii  IhJics  c/'Dliinili'. 


ANG 


30 


ANG 


ANGELICS,  an  ancient  sect, 
supposed  by  some  to  have  got  this 
appellation  from  their  excessive 
veneration  of  angels,  and  by  others 
from  maintaining  that  the  world 
was  created  by  angels. 

ANGELITES,  a  sect  in  the 
reign  of  the  emperor  Anastasius, 
about  the  year  494 ;  so  called  from 
Angelium,  a  place  in  the  city  of 
Alexandria  where  they  held  their 
first  meetings.  They  were  called 
likewise  Severites^  from  Severus, 
who  wa5  the  head  of  their  sect ; 
as  also  Theodosians^  from  one 
Theodosius,  whom  they  made 
pope  at  Alexandria.  They  held 
that  the  persons  of  the  Trinity  are 
not  the  same  ;  that  none  of  them 
exists  of  himself,  and  of  his  own 
nature  ;  but  that  there  is  a  com- 
mon God  or  Deity  existing  in 
them  all,  and  that  each  is  God 
by  a  participation  of  this  Deity.      I 

ANGER,  a  violent  passion  of  i 
tlie  mind,  arising  upon  the  receipt,  j 
or  supposed  i-eceipt,  of  any  injury, ! 
with  a  pre'ocnt  purpose  of  revenge.  | 
All  anger  is  by  no  means  sinful;  it  \ 
was  designed  by  the  Author  of! 
our  nature  for  self  defence  ;  nor  is 
it  altogether  a  selfish  passion,  since  | 
it  is  excited  by  injuries  offered  to  j 
others  as  well  as  ourselves,  and  j 
sometimes  prompts  us  to  reclaim  ' 
offenders  from  sin  and  danger, : 
Eph.  iv,  26 ;  but  it  becomes  sinful : 
when  conceived  upon  trivial  occa-  ■ 
sions  or  inadequate  provocations  ; ; 
when  it  breaks  forth  int©  outrage-  i 
ous  actions  ;  vents  itself  in  revil-  j 
ing  language,  or  is  concealed  in  j 
our  thoughts  to  the  degree  of  ha-  j 
tred.  To  suppress  this  passion,  I 
the  followingreilectionsofarchdea-  I 
con  Paley  may  not  be  unsuitable. —  I 


"  We  should  consider  the  possibi- 
lity of  mistaking  the  motives  from 
which  the  conduct  that  offends  us 
proceeded ;  how  often  our  offences 
have  been  the  effect  of  inadver- 
tency, when  they  were  construed 
into  indications  of  malice  ;  the  in- 
ducement Avhich  prompted  our  ad- 
versary to  act  as  he  did,  and  how 
powerfully  the  same  inducement 
has,  at  one  time  or  other,  operated 
upon  ourselves  ;  that  he  is  suffer- 
ing, perhaps,  under  a  contrition, 
which  he  is  ashamed,  or  wants 
opportunity,  to  confess  ;  and  how 
ungenerous  it  is  to  triumph  by 
coldness  or  insult  over  a  spirit 
already  humbled  in  secret ;  that 
the  returns  of  kindness  are  sweet, 
and  that  there  is  neither  honour, 
nor  virtue,  nor  use,  in  resisting 
them ;  for  some  persons  think  th  em- 
selves  bound  to  cherish  and  keep 
alive  their  indignation,  when  they 
find  it  dying  away  of  itself.  We 
may  remember  thst  others  have 
their  passions,  their  prejudices, 
their  favourite  aims,  their  fears, 
their  cautions,  their  interests,  their 
sudden  impulses,  their  varieties  of 
apprehension,  as  well  as  we  :  we 
may  recollect  what  hath  sometimes 
passed  in  our  own  minds,  when  we 
have  got  on  the  wrong  side  of  a 
quarrel,  and  imagine  the  same  to 
be  passing  in  our  adversary's  mind 
now  :  when  we  became  insensible 
of  our  misbehaviour,  what  pallia- 
tions we  perceived  in  it,  and  ex- 
pected others  to  perceive  ;  how  we 
were  affected  by  the  kindness,  and 
felt  the  superiority  of  a  generous 
reception  and  ready  forgiveness  ; 
how  persecution  revived  our  spi- 
rits with  our  enmity,  and  seemed 
to  justify  the  conduct  in  ourselves. 


ANG 


51 


ANT 


which  we  before  blamed.  Add  to 
this,  the  indecency  of  extravagant 
anger ;  how  it  renders  us,  whilst  it 
lasts,  the  scorn  and  sport  of  all 
about  us,  of  which  it  leaves  us, 
when  it  ceases,  sensible  and  asham- 
ed; the  inconveniences  and  irre- 
trievable misconduct  into  which 
our  irascibility  has  sometimes  be- 
trayed us ;  the  friendships  it  has 
lost  us  J  the  distresses  and  embar- 
rassments in  which  we  have  been 
involved  by  it;  and  the  repent- 
ance which,  on  one  account  or 
other,  it  always  costs  us. 

"  But  the  reflection,  calculated 
above  all  others  to  allay  that 
haughtiness  of  temper  which  is 
ever  finding  out  provocations,  and 
which  renders  anger  so  impetuous, 
is,  that  which  the  gospel  proposes ; 
namely,  that  we  ourselves  are,  or 
shortly  sh.all  be,  suppliants  for 
mercy  and  pardon  at  the  judg- 
ment seat  of  God.  Imagine  our 
secret  sins  all  disclosed  and  brought 
to  light;  imagine  us  thus  humbled 
and  exposed  ;  trembling  under  the 
hand  of  God  ;  casting  ourselves  on 
his  compassion ;  crying  out  for 
mercy ;  imagine  such  a  creature 
to  talk  of  satisfaction  and  revenge; 
refusing  to  be  entreated,  disdain- 
ing to  forgive  ;  extreme  to  mark 
and  to  resent  what  is  done  amiss ; 
imagine,  I  say,  this,  and  you  can 
hardly  feign  to  yourself  an  in- 
stance of  more  impious  and  unna- 
'tural  arrogance."  Paley's  Mor. 
Phil.,  ch.  7,  vol.  i ;  Fawcett\s  ex- 
cellent  Treatise  on  An^er ;  Seed's 
Posth.  Sei-.y  ser.  11. 

ANGER  OF  GOD.  See  Wrath. 

ANGLO  CALVINISTS, 
a  name  given  by  some  writers 
to  the  members  of  the  church 
of    England,    as    agreeing    with 


the  other  Calvinists  in  most 
points  excepting  church  govern- 
ment. 

ANNIHILATION,  the  act 
of  reducing  any  created  being  into 
nothing.  The  sentiments  of  man- 
kind have  differed  widely  as  to  the 
possibility  and  impossibility  of  an- 
nihilation. According  to  some,  no- 
thing is  so  difficult ;  it  requires  the 
infinite  power  of  God  to  effect  it : 
according  to  others,  nothing  so 
easy.  Existence,  say  they,  is  a  state 
of  violence;  all  things  are  continu- 
ally endeavouring  to  return  to  their 
primitive  nothing  :  it  requires  no 
power  at  all;  it  will  do  itself;  nay, 
more — it  requires  an  Infinite  pow- 
er to  prevent  it..  With  respect  to 
human  beings,  it  appears  probable 
from  reason  ;  but  it  is  confirmed 
by  scripture  that  they  will  not  be 
annihilated,  but  exist  in  a  future 
state,  Matt,  x,  28.  Ecc.  xii,  7. 
John  v,24.  IstThess.  v,  10.  Matt. 
xxv,  34,  41.  Luke  xvi,  22,  28. 
Luke  XX,  37,  38.  1st  Cor.  xv.  See 
158,  &c.  vol.  i,  Massilon's  Ser., 
Eng.  Trans.;  No.  129,  Guardian; 
B/air^s  Ser.y  vol.  i,  p.  461 ;  and 
articles  Destructionists,  Re- 
surrection, Soul. 

ANNUNCIATION,  the  ti- 
dings brought  by  the  angel  Gabri- 
el to  the  Virgin  Mary  of  the  incar- 
nation of  Christ.  It  is  also  used 
to  denote  a  festival  kept  by  the 
church  on  the  25th  of  March,  in 
commemoration  of  these  tidings. 

ANOMOEANS,  the  name  by 
which  the  pure  Arians  were  called 
in  the  fourth  century,  in  contra- 
distinction to  the  Semi-arians. 
The  word  is  formed  from  the 
Greek  avs/xoi.^r,  different.  See  Ari- 
ans and  Semi-arians. 

ANTEDILUVIANS,  a  gene- 


ANT 


A  N  T 


ral  mme  for  all  m-ankind  who  lived 
before  the  flood,  including  the 
whole  human  race  from  die  crea- 
tion to  the  dekige.  >  F®r  the  his- 
tory ol.'the  Antediluvians,  seeBaok 
of  Gcncfiis,  IVhJstcns  Josephiis, 
Cockbiirji^s  Treatise  on  Deluge^  and 
article  Deluge. 

ANTHEM,  a  church  song  per- 
formed in  cathedral  service  bv 
choristers  who  sung  alternately. 
It  was  used  to  denote  both  psalms 
imd  hvmns,  when  performed  in 
this  manner ;  but,  at  present,  an- 
them is  used  in  a  more'  confined 
sense,  being  applied  to  certain  pas- 
sages taken  out  of  the  scriptures, 
and  adapted  to  a  particular  solem- 
nity. Anthems  were  first  intro- 
duced- in  the  reformed  service  of 
the  EnglisJ^hurch,  in  the  begin- 
ning of  the  reign  of  queen  Eliza- 
beth. 

ANTHROFOMORPHITES, 
a  feet  of  ancient  heretics,  who  tak- 
ing ever}-  thing  spoken  of  God  in 
scripture  in  a  literal  sense,  parti- 
cularly that  passage,  of  Genesis  in 
which  it  is  said — '•'  God  made 
man  after  his  own  image,"  main- 
tained that  God  had  a  human 
shape. - 

ANTHROPOPATHY,  a 
figure,  expression,  or  discourse, 
whereby  some  passion  is  attributed 
to  God  ^  which  properly  belongs 
only  to  man.  Anthropopathy  is  fre- 
quently used  pon"«iscuously  with 
anthropology ;  yet  in  strictness  they 
ought  to  be  distinguished,  as  the 
genus  from  the  species^  Anthro- 
pology may  be  understood  of  any 
thing  human  attrihuted  to  God, 
as  eyes,  hands,  &c.  ;  but  anthro- 
popathy only  of  human  affections 
aiid  passjons,  as  jny,  grief.     We 


have  frequent  instances  of  the  use 
of  these  figures  in  holy  scripture. 

ANTIBURGHERS,  a  nume- 
rous and  respectable  body  of  dis- 
seqters  from  the  church  of  Scot- 
land, who  differ  from  the  esta- 
blished church  chiefly  in  matters  of 
church  government;  and  who  dif- 
fer, also,  from  the  Burgher  secc- 
ders,  with  whom  thev  were  origi- 
nally united, 'chiefly,  if  not  solelV, 
respecting  the  lawfulness  of  taking 
the  Burgess  oath.  For  an  account 
of  their  origin  and  principles,  see 
Seceders, 

ANTICHRIST,  an  adversary 
to  Jesus  Christ.   There  have  been 
various    opinions    concerning  the 
Antichrist  mentioned  in  the  scrip- 
ture,  1st  John  ii,   18.    Some  have 
held  that  the  Jews  are  to  be  re- 
puted as  Antichrist ;  others  Cali- 
gula ;    others    Mahomet ;     others 
Simon  INIagus  ;  others  infidelity  ; 
and  others,  that  the  devil  himself 
is  the  Antichrist.      Most  authors 
agree,  however,  that  it'  applies  to 
the    church  of    Rome.      Grotius, 
Hammond,  Bossuet,  and  others, 
j  supposed  Rome  pagan  to  be  de- 
j  signed;  but  Rome  Christian  seems 
j  more  evident,  for  John  "  saw  the 
j  beast  rise  up  out  of  the  sea,"  Rev. 
xiii,  1.     Now,  as  heathen  Rome 
j  had  risen  and  been  established  long 
j  before  his  time,  this  could  not  re- 
!  i'er  to  the  Roman  empii-e  then  sub- 
'  sisting,  but  to  a  form  of  govern- 
ment  afterwards    to  arise.      As, 
I  therefore,    none   did  arise,    after 
:  Rome  was  broken  to  pieces  by  the 
barbarians,  but  that  of  the  papal 
power,  it  must  be   considered  as 
applying  to   that.     The    descrip- 
tions,  also,    of  the    beast  as    the 
great  apostacy^  the  man  ofsw^  the 


ANT 


33 


ANT 


mystery  of  iniquity,  and  the  sow  of 
perdition,  will  apply  only  to  chris- 
tian Rome.  See  Daniel  vii.  2d 
Thess.  ii.  and  Rev.  xiii.  Besides, 
the  time  allowed  for  the  continu- 
ance of  the  beast  will  not  apply  to 
heathen  Rome  ;  for  power  was 
given  to  the  beast  for  1260  years, 
whereas  heathen  Rome  did  not 
last  400  years  after  this  prophecy 
was  delivered. 

Authors  have  differed  as  to  the 
time  when  Antichrist  arose.  Some 
suppose  that  his  reign  did  not 
commence  till  he  became  a  tem- 
poral prince,  in  the  year  756, 
when  Pepin  wrested  the  exarchate 
of  Ravanna  from  the  Lombards, 
and  made  it  over  to  the  pope  and 
his  successors.  Others  think  that 
it  was  in.  727,  when  Rome  and  the 
Roman  dukedom  came  from  the 
Greeks  to  the  Roman  pontiff. 
Mede  dates  his  rise  in  the  year 
456  ;  but  others,  and  I  think  with 
the  greatest  reason,  place  it  in  the 
year  606.  Now,  it  is  generally 
agreed  that  the  reign  of  Antichrist 
is  1260  years ;  consequently,  if 
his  rise  is  not  to  be  reckoned  till 
he  was  possessed  of  secular  autho- 
rity, then  his  fall  must  be  when 
this  power  is  taken  away.  Ac- 
cording to  the  first  opinion,  he 
must  have  possessed  his  temporal 
power  till  the  year  2016 ;  accord- 
ing to  the  second,  he  must  have 
possessed  it  till  the  year  1987".  If 
his  rise  began,  according  to  Mede, 
In  456,  then  he  must  have  fallen  in 
1716.  Now  that  these  dates  were 
wrong,  circumstances  have  prov- 
ed; the  first  and  second  being  too 
late,  and  the  third  too  early.  As 
these  hypotheses,  therefore,  must 
fall  to  the  ground,    it  remains  for 

Vol.  L  F 


us  to  consider  why  the  last  men- 
tioned is  the  more  probable.  It 
was  about  the  year  606  that  pope 
Boniface  III,  by  flattering  Phocas, 
the  emperor  of  Constantinople,  one 
of  the  worst  of  tyrants,  procured 
for  himself  the  title  of  Universal 
Bishop.  The  bishops  of  Rome 
and  Constantinople  had  long  been 
struggling  for  this  honour ;  at  last, 
it  was  decided  in  favour  of  the  bi- 
shop of  Rome ;  and  from  this  time 
he  was  raised  above  all  others,  and 
his  supremacy  established  by  im- 
perial authority:  it  was  now, 
also,  that  the  most  profound  ig- 
norance, debauchery,  and  super- 
stition, reigned.  From  this  time 
the  popes  exerted  all  their  power 
in  promoting  the  idolatrous  wor- 
ship of  images,  saints,  reliques, 
and  angels.  The  church  was  tru- 
ly deplorable  ;  all  the  clergy  were 
given  up  to  the  most  flagrant  and 
abominable  acts  of  licentiousness. 
Places  of  worship  resembled  the 
temples  of  heathens  more  than  the 
churches  of  christians ;  in  fine,  no- 
thing could  exceed  the  avarice, 
pride,  and  vanity  of  all  the  bishops, 
presbyters,  deacons,  and  even  the 
cloistered  monks  !  All  this  fully 
answered  the  description  St.  Paul 
gave  of  Antichrist,  2d  Thess.  ii. 
It  is  necessary  also  to  observe,  that 
this  epoch  agrees  best  with  the 
time  when,  according  to  prophecy, 
he  was  to  be  revealed.  The  rise 
of  Antichrist  was  to  be  preceded 
by  the  dissolution  of  the  Roman 
empire,  theestablishment  of  a  dif- 
ferent form  of  government  in  Italy, 
and  the  division  of  the  empire  into 
ten  kingdoms  ;  all  theseevents tak- 
ing place,  make  it  very  probable 
thi*t  the  year  606  was  the  time  of 


ANT 


34 


ANT 


his  rise.  Nor  have  the  events  of 
the  last  century  made  it  less  pro- 
bable. The  power  of  the  pope 
was  never  so  much  shaken  as  with- 
in a  fev/  years  :  "  his  dominion  is, 
in  a  great  measure,  taken  from 
him  ;"  and  every  thing  seems  to 
be  going  on  gradually  to  termi- 
nate his  authority ;  so  that,  by  the 
time  these  1260  years  shall  be  con- 
cluded, we  may  suppose  that  An- 
tichrist shall  be  finally  destroyed. 

As  to  the  cruelties  of  Antichrist, 
the  persecutions  that  have  been 
carried  on,  and  the  miseries  to 
which  mankind  have  been  subject, 
by  the  power  of  the  beast,  the  read- 
er may  consult  the  articles  In- 
quisition and  Persecution. 
In  this  we  have  to  rejoice,  that, 
however  various  the  opinions  of 
the  learned  may  be  as  to  the  time 
when  Antichrist  rose,  it  is  evident 
to  all  that  he  is  fast  declining,  and 
will  certainly  fall.  Rev.  xviii,  1, 
5.  What  means  the  Amighty 
i^jnay  farther  use,  the  exact  time 
when,  and  the  manner  how,  all 
shall  be  accomplished,  we  must 
leave  to  him  who  ordereth  all 
things  after  the  counsel  of  his  own 
will.  See  Bp.  Newton  on  the  Pro- 
phecies ;  Simpson! s  Key  to  ditto  ; 
Mosely^s  Ser.  on  Fall  of  Babylon  ; 
WarcPs  three  Discourses  Ofi  Pro- 
phecy, and  books  under  that  ar- 
ticle. 

ANTIDORON,  a  name  given 
by  the  Greeks  to  the  consecrated 
bread  ;  out  of  which  the  middle 
part,  marked  with  the  cross,  where- 
in the  consecration  resides,  being 
taken  away  by  the  priest,  the  re- 
mainder is  cfistributed  after  mass 
to  the  poor. 

ANTINOMIANS,  those  who 


maintain  that  the  law  is  of  no  use 
or  obligation  under  the  gospel  dis- 
pensation, or  who  hold  doctrines 
that  clearly  supersede  the  neces- 
sity of  good  works.  The  Antino- 
mians  took  their  origin  from  John 
Agricola,  about  the  year  1538, 
who  taught  that  the  law  is  no  way 
necessary  under  the  gospel ;  that 
good  works  do  not  promote  our 
salvation,  nor  ill  ones  hinder  it ; 
that  repentance  is  not  to  be 
preached  from  the  decalogue,  but 
only  from  the  gospel.  This  sect 
sprung  up  in  England  during  the 
protectorate  of  Cromwell,  and  ex- 
tended their  system  of  libertinism 
much  farther  than  Agricola  did. 
Some  of  them,  it  is  said,  maintain- 
ed, that  if  they  should  commit  any 
kind  of  sin,  it  would  do  them 
no  hurt,  nor  in  the  least  affect 
their  eternal  state  ;  and  that  it 
is  one  of  the  distinguishing  cha- 
racters of  the  elect,  that  they  can- 
not do  any  thing  displeasing  to 
God.  It  is  necessary,  however,  to 
observe  here,  and  candour  obliges 
us  to  confess,  that  there  have  been 
others,  who  have  been  styled  An^ 
tinomians,  who  cannot,  strictly 
speaking,  be  ranked  with  these 
men:  nevertheless,  the  unguarded 
expressions  they  have  advanced, 
the  bold  positions  they  have  laid 
down,  and  the  double  construction 
which  might  so  easily  be  put  upon 
many  of  their  sentences,  have  led 
some  to  charge  them  with  Anti- 
nomian  principles.  For  instance  ; 
when  they  have  asserted  justifica- 
tion to  be  eternal,  without  distin- 
guishing between  the  secret  deter- 
mination of  God  in  eternity  and 
the  execution  of  it  in  time  ;  when 
they  have  spoken  lightly  of  good 


ANT 


35 


ANT 


works,  or  asserted  that  believers 
have  nothing  to  do  with  the  law 
of  God,  without  fully  explaining 
what  they  mean  ;  when  they  assert 
that  God  is  not  angry  with  his 
people  for  their  sins,  nor  in  any 
sense  punishes  them  for  them,  with- 
out distinguishingbetween  fatherly 
corrections  and  vindictive  punish- 
ment ;  these  things,  whatever  be 
the  private  sentiments  of  those  who 
advance  them,  have  a  tendency  to 
injure  the  minds  of  many.  It  has 
been  alleged,  that  the  principal 
thing  they  have  had  in  view,  was, 
to  counteract  those  legal  doctrines 
which  have  so  much  abounded 
among  the  self-righteous  i  but, 
granting  this  to  be  true,  there  is 
no  occasion  to  run  from  one  ex- 
treme to  another.  Had  many  of 
those  writers  proceeded  with  more 
caution,  been  less  dogmatical, 
more  explicit  in  the  explanation 
of  their  sentiments,  and  possessed 
more  candour  towards  those  who 
differed  from  them,  they  would 
have  been  more  serviceable  to  the 
cause  of  truth  and  religion.  Some 
of  the  chief  of  those  who  have 
been  charged  as  favouring  Anti- 
nominianism,  or  at  least  whose 
works  have  that  tendency,  are. 
Crisps  Richardson^  Saltmarsh^  Hus- 
seify  Eaton^  Town.,  &c.  These  have 
been  answered  by  Gataker,  Sedg- 
tuicky  Witsiiis^BidX  Williams,  Ridg- 
ley,  Beart,  De  Fleury,  &c.  See 
also  Bellamy's  Letters  and  Dia- 
ijgues  betxveen  Theron,  Paulinus, 
and  Aspasio  ;  with  his  Essay  on  the 
Nature  and  Glory  of  the  Gospel. 

ANTIPATHY,  hatred,  aver- 
sion, repugnancy.  Hatred  \&  entei;,- 
tained  against  \)tYsoxis,  aversion  and 
antipathy  against  persons  or  things. 


and  repugnancy  against  actions 
alone.  Hatred  is  more  voluntary 
than  aversion,  antipathy,  or  repug- 
nancy :  these  last  have  greater  affi- 
nity with  the  animal  constitution. 
The  causes  of  antipathy  are  less 
known  than  those  of  aversion.  Re 
piignancy  is  less  petTnanent  than 
either  one  or  the  other.  We  hate 
a  vicious  character ;  we  feel  aver* 
sion  to  its  exertions.  We  are  af- 
fected with  antipathy  for  certain 
persons  at  first  sight ;  there  are 
some  affairs  which  we  transact 
with  repugnancy.  Hatred  calum- 
niates, aversion  keeps  us  at  a  dis- 
tance from  certain  persons.  Anti- 
pathy makes  us  detest  them  ;  re- 
pugnancy  hinders  us  from  imitat- 
ing them. 

ANTIPiEDOBAPTISTS 
(from  aA,  "  against,'"  and  itats  wai* 
^0.,  "  child,"  and  Bxml^,^,  "  bap- 
tize,") is  a  distinguishing  denomi- 
nation given  to  the  those  who  ob- 
ject to  the  baptism  of  infants.  See 
Baptists,  Baptism. 

ANTIQUITIES,  a  term  im- 
plying all  testimonies  or  authentic 
accounts  that  have  come  down  to 
us  of  ancient  nations.  As  the  stu- 
dy of  antiquities  may  be  useful 
both  to  the  enquiring  christian,  as 
well  as  to  those  who  are  employed 
in  or  are  candidates  for  the  gos- 
pel ministry,  Ave  shall  here  subjoin 
a  list  of  those  which  are  esteemed 
the  most  valuable. — Fabricii  Bibli- 
ographia  Antiquaria;  Spencer  de 
Legibus  Heb  Ritualibus  ;  GodxvyrHs 
Moses  and  Aaron  ;  Bingham's  An- 
tiquities of  the  Christian  Church; 
Jennings's  Jewish  Antiquities ; 
Potter's  and  Harwood's  Greek,  and 
Kennett's  and  Adams's  Rpman  An- 
tiquities ;  Preface  to  the  Prussian 


Aisrt 


36 


A.NT 


Testament,  published  by  V Enfant 
and  Becmsobre ;  Pr'idmiix  and 
Shuckford'^s  Connections  ;  J  ones'' s 
Asiatic  Researches  ;  and  Maurice's 
Indian  Antiquities. 

ANTISABBATARIANS,  a 
modern  religious  sect,who  deny  the 
necessity  of  observing  the  Sabbath 
Day.    Their  chief  arguments  are, 
1.  That  the  Jewish  Sabbath  was 
only  of  ceremonial,  not  of  moral, 
obligation ;  and,  consequently,  is 
abolished  by  the  coming  of  Christ. 
— 2.  That  no  other  Sabbath  wajs 
appointed  to  be  obsyved  by  Christ 
or  his  apostles. — 3.  That  there  is 
not  a  word  of  Sabbath  breaking  in 
all  the  New  Testament. — 4.  That 
no  command  was  given  to  Adam 
or  Noah  to  keep  any  Sabbath. — 
And,  5.  That,  therefore,  although 
christians  are  commanded  "  not 
to  forsake  the  assembling  of  them- 
selves together,"  they  ought  not  to 
hold  one  day  more  holy  than  an- 
other.    See  article  Sabbath. 

ANTITACTtE,  a  branch  of 
Gnostics,  v/ho  held  that  God  was 
good  and  just,  but  that  a  creature 
had  created  evil;  and,  consequent- 
ly, that  it  is  our  duty  to  oppose 
this  author  of  evil,  in  order  to 
avenge  God  of  his  adversary. 

ANTITRINITARIANS,  those 
who  deny  the  Trinity,  and  teach 
that  there  are  Hot  three  persons  in 
the  Godhead.     See  Trinity. 

ANTITYPE,  a  Greek  word, 
properly  signifying  a  type  or  figure 
corresponding  to  some  other  type. 
The  word  antitype  occurs  twice 
in  the  New  Testament,  viz.  in  the 
,  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews,  chap,  ix, 
v.  24,  and  in  the  1st  Epistle  of  St. 
Peter,  chap,  iii,  v.  21,  where  its 
genuine   import  has   been   much 


contro^verted.     The  former  says, 
that  "  Christ  is  not  entered  into 
the  holy  places  made  with  hands, 
which  are  xvTiTUTTot,  the  figures  or 
antitvpes  of  the  true — now  to  ap- 
pear in  the   presence   of    God*" 
Now  rvTTos  signifies  the  pattern  by 
which   another    thing    is    made  j 
and  as  Moses  was  obliged  to  make 
the  tabernacle,  and  all  things  in 
it,  according  to  the  pattern  shewn 
him  in  the  Mount,  the  tabernacle 
so  formed  was  the  antitype  of  what 
was  shewn  to  Moses  :  any  thing, 
therefore,  formed  according  to  a 
model  or  pattern,  is  an  antitype. 
In  the  latter  passage,  the  apostle, 
speaking  of  Noah's  flood,  and  the 
deliverance  only  of  eight  persons 
in  the  ark  from  it,  says,  n  x«<  rjixact 

acvriTuTrov  vwacu^ii  ^cctttktixoc  ;     Baptism 

beiiig  an  antitype  to  that,  now  saves 
us  ;  not  putting  orway  the  filth  of 
the  flesh,  but  the  answer  of  a  good 
conscience  toward  God,  &c.  The 
meaning  is,  that  righteousness,  or 
the  answer  of  a  good  conscience 
towards  God,  now  saves  us,  by 
means  of  the  resurrection  of  Christ, 
as  formerly  righteousness  saved 
these  eight  persons  by  means  of 
the  ark  during  the  flood.  The 
word  antitype,  therefore,  here  sig- 
nifies a  general  similitude  of  cir- 
cumstances ;  and  the  particle  fi, 
whereunto,  refers  not  to  the  imme- 
diate antecedent  f^aros-,  xvater,  but 
to  all  that  precedes. 

ANTOSIANDRIANS,  asect 
of  rigid  Lutherans  who  opposed  the 
doctrine  of  Osiander  relating  to 
justification.  These  are  otherwise 
denominated  Osiandromastiges. — 
The  Antosiandrians  deny  that  man 
is  made  just,  with  that  justice 
I  wherewith  God  himself  is  just  j 


APO 


37 


APO 


that  is,  they  assert  that  he  is  not 
made  essentially  but  only  imputa- 
tively  just ;  or  that  he  is  not  really 
made  just,  but  only  pronounced  so. 

APATHY,  among  the  ancient 
philosophers,  implied  an  utter  pri- 
vation of  passion,  and  an  insensi- 
bility of  pain.  The  word  is  com- 
pounded rf  a  priv  and  Trafloj,  affec- 
tion. The  Stoics  affected  an  en- 
tire apathy  ;  they  considered  it  as 
the  highest  wisdom  to  enjoy  a  per- 
fect calmness  or  tranquillity  of 
mind,  incapable  of  being  ruffled  by 
either  pleasure  or  pain.  In  the 
first  ages  of  the  church,  the  chris- 
tians adopted  the  term  apathy  to 
express  a  contempt  of  all  earthly 
concerns  ;  a  state  of  mortification 
such  as  the  gospel  prescribes. 
Clemens  Alexandrinus,  in  parti- 
cular, brought  it  exceedingly  in 
vogue,  thinking  hereby  to  draw 
such  philosophers  to  Christianity 
who  aspired  after  such  a  sublime 
pitch  of  virtue. 

APELLEANS,  so  called  from 
Apelles,  in  the  second  century. 
They  affirmed  that  Christ,  when 
he  came  down  from  heaven,  re- 
ceived a  body  not  from  the  sub- 
stance of  his  mother,  but  from  the 
four  elements,  which  at  his  death 
he  rendered  back  to  the  world,  and 
so  ascended  into  heaven  without 
a  body. 

APHTHARTODOCITES,  a 
denomination  in  the  sixth  century ; 
so  called  from  the  Greek  «ip9«pToy, 
incorruptible^  and  '^ox.iu^  to  judge ; 
because  they  held  that  the  body  of 
Jesus  Christ  was  incorruptible,  and 
not  subject  to  death.  They  were 
a  branchof  the  Eutychians. 

APOCARITiES,  a  denomi- 
nation, in  the  third  century,  which 


sprung  from  the  Manicheans. 
They  held  that  the  soul  of  man  was 
of  the  substance  of  God. 

APOCRYPHA,  books  not  ad- 
mitted into  the  canon  of  scripture, 
being  either  spurious,  or  at  least 
not  acknowledged  as  divine.  The 
word  is  Greek,  and  derived  from 
asTTo,  "  from,"  and  x.pvTrroj^  "  to  hide 
or  conceal."  They  seem  most  of 
them  to  have  been  composed  by 
Jews.  None  of  the  writers  of 
the  NewTestamentmentionthem; 
neither  Philo  nor  Josephus  speak 
of  them.  The  christian  church  < 
was  for  some  ages  a  stranger  to 
them.  Origen,  Athanasius,  Hi- 
lary, Cyril  of  Jerusalem,  and  all 
the  orthodox  writers  who  h^e 
given  catalogues  of  the  canonical 
books  of  scripture,  unanimously 
concur  in  rejecting  these  out  of 
the  canon.  The  Protestants  ac- 
knowledge such  books  of  scripture 
only  to  be  canonical  as  were  es- 
teemed to  be  so  in  the  first  ages 
of  the  church  ;  such  as  are  cited 
by  the  earliest  writers  among  the 
christians  as  of  divine  authoritj^, 
and  after  the  most  diligent  enquiry 
were  received  and  judged  to  be 
so  by  the  council  of  Laodicea. 
They  were  written  after  the  daj^s 
of  Malachi,  in  whom,  according 
to  the  universal  testimony  of  the 
Jews,  the  spirit  of  prophecy  ceas- 
ed, Mai.  iv,  4  to  6.  Not  one  of 
the  writers  in  direct  terms  ad- 
vances a  claim  to  inspiration. 
They  contain  fables,  lies,  and  con- 
tradictions, 1st  Mace,  vi,  4,  16. 
2d  Mace,  i,  13,  16.  2d  Mace,  ix, 
28.  The  apocryphal  books  are  in 
general  believed  to  be  canonical 
by  the  church  of  Rome ;  and, 
even  by  the  sixth  _articlc  of  tlu 


APO 


38 


APO 


cliurcb  of  England,  they  are  or- 
dered to  be  read  for  example  of 
life  and  instruction  of  manners, 
though  it  doth  not  apply  them  to 
estaiwish  any  doctrine.  Other  re- 
formed churches  do  not  so  much 
as  raake  even  this  use  of  them. 
See  Pr'idemix's  Connections^  vol.  i, 
p.  3G-42 :  Lee's  Dissert,  on  Es- 
dras ;  Dick  on  Inspiration^  p.  344. 

APOLLINAKIANS  were  an- 
cient heretics,  who  denied  the  pro- 
per humanity  of  C|;irist,  and  main- 
tained that  the  body  which  he  as- 
sumed was  endovv'ed  with  a  stn- 
sitive  and  not  a  rational  soul ;  but 
that  the  divine  nature  supplied  the 
place  of  the  intellectual  principle 
in  man.  This  sect  derived  its 
name  from  Apollinaris,  bishop  of 
Laodicea.  Their  doctrine  was 
first  condemned  by  a  council  at 
Alexandria  in  362,  and  after- 
wards in  a  more  formal  manner  by 
a  council  at  Rome  in  375,  and 
by  another  council  in  378,  which 
deposed  Apollinaris  from  his  bi- 
shopric. This,  with  other  laws 
enacted  against  them,  reduced 
them  to  a  very  small  number  ;  so 
that  at  last  they  dwindled  away. 

A  POST  AC  Y,  a  forsaking  or 
renouncing  our  religion,  either  by 
an  open  declaration  in  words,  or 
a  virtual  declaration  of  it  by  our 
actions.  The  primitive  christian 
church  distinguished  several  kinds 
of  apostacy ;  the  first,  of  those 
who  went  entirely  from  Christia- 
nity to  Judaism ;  the  second,  of 
those  who  complied  so  far  with 
the  Jews,  as  to  communicate  with 
them  in  manv  of  their  unlawful 
practices,  vvithout  making  a  for- 
mal profession  of  their  religion  ; 
thirdly^    of    those   who   mingled 


Judaism  and  Christianity  together ; 
and,  fourthly,  of  those  who  vo- 
luntarily relapsed  into  paganism. 
Apostacy  may  be  farther  consi- 
dered as,  1,  original,  in  which  we 
have  all  participated,  Rom.  iii, 
23  ; — 2,  national,  when  a  king- 
dom relinquishes  the  profession  of 
Christianity  ; — 3,  perso^fal,  when 
an  individual  backslides  from 
God,  Heb.  X,  38  ; — 4,  final,  when 
men  are  given  up  to  judicial  hard- 
ness of  heart,  as  Judas.  See 
Backsliding. 

APOSTLE,  properly  signifies 
a  messenger  or  person  sent  by  an- 
other upon  some  business.  It  is 
particularly  applied  to  them  whom 
our  Saviour  deputed  to  preach. — 
2.  Apostle,  in  the  Greek  liturgy, 
is  used  for  a  book  containing  the 
epistles  of  St.  Paul,  printed  in  the 
order  wherein  they  are  to  be  read 
in  churches  through  the  course  of 
the  year. — 3.  The  appellation  was 
also  given  to  the  ordinary  travel- 
ling ministers  of  the  church,  Rom. 
xvi,  7.  Phil,  ii,  25,  though  in  our 
translation  the  last  is  rendered 
messenger. — 4.  It  is  likewise  giv- 
en to  those  persons  who  first  plant- 
ed the  christian  faith  in  any  place. 
Thus  Dionysius  of  Corinth  is  call- 
ed the  Apostle  of  France,  Xavier 
the  Apostle  of  the  Indies,  &c. 

APOSTLES'  CREED.  See 
Creed. 

APOSTOLATE,  In  a  general 
sense,  is  used  for  mission  ;  but  it 
more  properly  denotes  the  dignity 
or  office  of  an  apostle  of  Christ. 
It  is  also  used  in  ancient  writers 
for  the  office  of  a  bishop.  But  as 
the  title  apostoliciis  has  been  ap- 
propriated to  the  pope,  so  that 
of  apostolate   became    at   length 


APO 


39 


APO 


restrained  to  the  sole  dignity  of 
the  popedom. 

:  APOSTOLIC,  apostolical; 
something  that  relates  to  the  apos- 
tles, or  descends  from  them.  Thus 
we  say  the  apostolical  age,  apostoli- 
cal doctrine,  apostolical  character, 
constitutions,  traditions,  &c. 

APOSTOLIC,  in  the  primitive 
church,  was  an  appellation  given 
to  all  such  churches  as  were  found- 
ed by  the  apostles ;  and  even  to 
the  bishops  of  those  churches,  as 
being  the  reputed  successors  of  the 
apostles.  These  were  confined  to 
four,  viz.  Rome,  Alexandria,  An- 
tioch,  and  Jerusalem.  In  after 
times,  the  other  churches  assumed 
the  same  quality,  on  account, 
principally,  of  the  conformity  of 
their  doctrine  with  that  of  the 
churches  which  were  apostolical 
by  foundation,  and  because  all 
bishops  held  themselves  successors 
of  the  apostles,  or  acted  in  their 
dioceses  with  the  authority  of 
apostles. 

The  first  time  the  term  aposto- 
iical  is  attributed  to  bishops,  as 
such,  is  in  a  letter  of  Clovis  to  the 
council  of  Orleans,  held  in  511, 
though  that  king  does  not  there 
expressly  denominate  them  aposto- 
lical,h\xx.(apostolicasededignissimt) 
highly  worthy  of  the  apostolical 
see.  In  581,  Guntram  calls  the 
bishops,  met  at  the  council  of 
Macon,  apostolical  pontiffs,  apo- 
stolici  pontijices. 

In  progress  of  time,  the  bishop 
of  Rome  growing  in  power  above 
the  rest,  and  the  three  patriarchates 
of  Alexandria,  Antioch,  and  Jeru- 
salem, falling  into  the  hands  of  the 
Saracens,  the  title  apostolical  v/as 
restrained   to   the   pope    and  his 


church  alone  ;  though  some  of  the 
popes,  and  St.  Gregory  the  Great, 
not  contented  to  hold  the  title  by 
this  tenure,  began  at  length  to  in- 
sist that  it  belonged  to  them  hy 
another  and  peculiar  right,  as 
being  the  successors  of  St.  Peter. 
The  country  of  Rheims,  in  1049, 
declared  that  the  pope  was  the 
sole  apostolical  primate  of  the 
universal  church.  And  hence 
a  great  number  of  apostolicals ; 
apostolical  see,  apostolical  nuncio, 
apostolical  notary  y  apostolical  brief^ 
apostolical  chamber,  apostolical  vi- 
car, &c. 

APOSTOLICAL  CONSTI- 
TUTIONS, a  collection  of  regu- 
lations attributed  to  the  apostles, 
and  supposed  to  have  been  collect- 
ed by  St.  Clement,  whose  name 
they  likewise  bear.  It  is  the  gene- 
ral opinion,  however,  that  they  arc 
spurious,  and  that  St.  Clement 
had  no  hand  in  them.  They  ap- 
peared first  in  the  fourth  century, 
but  have  been  much  changed  and 
corrupted  since-  There  are  so 
many  things  in  them  different 
from  and  even  contrary  to  the  ge- 
nius and  design  of  the  New  Testa- 
nient  writers,  that  no  wise  man 
would  believe,  without  the  most 
convincing  and  irresistible  proof, 
that  both  could  come  from  the 
same  hand.  Grate's  Afiszuer  t» 
Wiiiston;  Saur ill's  Ser.,  vol.  ii,  p. 
185  ;  Lardner''s  Cred.,  vol.  viii,  p. 
11,  cJi.  ult.;  Doddridge's  Lect.^  lee. 
119. 

APOSTOLIC  FATHERS,an 
appellation  usually  given  to  the 
writers  of  the  first  century,  who 
employed  their  pens  in  the  cause 
of  Christianity.  Of  these  writers, 
Cotelcrii,is,and  after  liim  Le  Clerc, 


A   PP 


40 


ARA 


have  published  a  collection  in  two 
volumes,  accompanied  both  with 
their  own  annotations,  and  the  re- 
marks of  other  learned  men.  See 
also  the  genuine  epistles  of  the 
apostolic  fathers  by  abp.  Wake. 

APOSTOLICI,  or  Aposto- 
Lics,  a  name  assumed  by  different 
sects  on  account  of  their  pretending 
to  imitate  the  practice  of  the 
apostles. 

•  APOTACTIT^,  an  ancient 
sect,  who  affected  to  follow  the  ex- 
amples of  the  apostles,  and  re- 
nounced all  their  effects  and  pos- 
sessions. It  does  not  appear  that 
they  held  any  errors  at  first ;  but 
afterwards  they  taught  that  the  re- 
nouncing of  all  riches  was  not  on- 
ly a  matter  of  counsel  and  advice, 
but  of  precept  and  necessity. 

APPLICATION,  is  used  for 
the  act  whereby  our  Saviour  trans- 
fers or  makes  over  to  us  what  he 
had  earned  or  purchased  by  his 
holy  life  and  death.  Accordingly 
it  is  by  this  application  of  the  merits 
of  Christ  that  we  are  to  be  justified 
and  entitled  to  grace  and  glory. 

Application  is  also  used  for  that 
part  of  a  sermon  in  which  the 
preacher  brings  home  or  applies 
the  truth  of  religion  to  the  consci- 
ences of  his  hearers.  See  Ser- 
mon. 

APPROBATION,  a  state  or 
disposition  of  the  mind,  wherein 
we  put  a  value  upon,  or  become 
pleased  with,  some  person  or  thing. 
Moralists  are  divided  on  the  prin- 
ciple ofapprobation,  or  the  motive 
which  determines  us  to  approve 
or  disapprove.  The  Epicureans 
will  have  it  to  be  only  self-interest : 
according   to   them,    that    which 


determines  any  agent  to  approve 
his  own  action,  is  its  apparent  ten- 
dency to  his  private  happiness; 
and  even  the  approbation  of  ano- 
ther's action  flows  from  no  other 
cause  but  an  opinion  of  its  tendency 
to  the  happiness  of  the  approver, 
either  immediately  or  remotely. 
Others  resolve  approbation  into  a 
moral  sense,  or  a  principle  of  be- 
nevolence, by  which  we  are  deter- 
mined to  approve  every  kind  af- 
fe  ction  either  in  ourselves  or  others, 
and  all  publicly  useful  actions 
which  we  imagine  to  flow  from 
such  affections,  without  any  view 
therein  to  our  own  private  hap- 
piness. 

But  may  we  not  add,  that  a  true 
christian's  approbation  arises  from 
his  perception  of  the  will  of  God? 
See  Obligation. 

APPROPRIATION,  the  an- 
nexing a  benefice  to  the  proper  and 
perpetual  use  of  some  religious 
house.  It  is  a  term  also  often  used 
in  the  religious  world  as  referring 
to  that  act  of  the  mind  by  which  we 
apply  the  blessings  of  the  gospel 
to  ourselves.  This  appropriation 
is  real  when  we  are  enabled  to 
believe  in,  feel,  and  obey  the  truth; 
but  merely  nojni^ial  and  delusive , 
when  there  are  no  fruits  of  righte- 
ousness and  true  holiness.  See 
Assurance. 

AQUARIANS,those  who  con- 
secrated water  in  the  eucharist  in- 
stead of  wine.  Another  branch  of 
them  approved  of  wine  at  the 
sacrament,  when  received  in  the 
evening ;  they  likewise  mixed 
water  with  the  wine. 

ARABICI,  erroneous  chris- 
tians,  in  the  third  centur}',  who 


ARC 


41 


ARI 


thought  that  the  soul  and  body 
died  together,  and  rose  again.  It 
is  said  that  Origen  convinced  them 
of  their  error,  and  that  they  then 
abjured  it. 

ARCHANGEL,  according  to 
some  divines,  means  an  angel  oc- 
cupying the  eighth  rank  in  the  ce- 
lestial hierarchy  ;  but  others,  not 
without  reason,  reckon  it  a  title 
only  applicable  to  our  Saviour. 
Compare  Jude  ix,  with  Dan.  xii, 
1.  1st  Thess.  iv,  16. 

ARCHBISHOP,  the  chief  or 
metropolitan  bishop,  who  has  seve- 
ral suffragans  under  him.  Arch- 
bishops were  not  known  in  the 
East  till  about  the  year  320  ;  and 
though  there  were  some  soon  after 
this  who  had  the  title,  yet  that 
was  only  a  personal  honour,  by 
which  the  bishops  of  considerable 
cities  were  distinguished.  It  was 
not  till  of  late  that  archbishops 
became  metropolitans,  and  had 
suffragans  under  them.  The  eccle- 
siastical government  of  England 
is  divided  into  two  provinces,  viz. 
Canterbury  and  York.  The  first 
archbishop  of  Canterbury  was 
Austin,  appointed  by  king  Ethel- 
bert,  on  his  conversion  to  Chris- 
tianity, about  the  year  598.  His 
grace  of  Canterbury  is  the  first 
peer  of  England,  and  the  next  to 
the  royal  family,  having  prece- 
dence of  all  dukes,  and  all  great 
officers  of  the  crown.  It  is  his 
privilege,  by  custom,  to  crown  the 
kings  and  queens  of  this  kingdom. 
The  archbishop  of  York  has  pre- 
cedence of  all  dukes  not  of  the 
royal  blood,  and  of  all  officers  of 
state  except  the  lord  high  chan- 
cellor. The  first  archbishop  of 
York    was    Paulinus,    appointed 

Vol.  L  ( 


by  pope  Gregory  about  the  year 
622. 

ARCHDEACON,  a  priest  in- 
vested with  authority  or  jurisdic- 
tion over  the  clergy  and  laity,  next 
to  the  bishop,  either  through  the 
whole  diocese,  or  only  a  part  of  it. 
There  are  sixty  in  England,  who 
visit  every  two  years  in  three,  when 
they  enquire  into  the  reparations 
and  moveables  belonging  to  church- 
es ;  reform  abuses  ;  suspend  ;  ex- 
communicate ;  in  some  places 
prove  wills  ;  and  induct  all  clerks 
into  benefices  within  their  respec- 
tive jurisdictions. 

ARCHONTICS,  a  sect  about 
the  year  160  or  203.  Among 
many  other  extravagant  notions, 
they  held  that  the  world  was  cre- 
ated by  archangels  ;  they  also  de- 
nied the  resurrection  of  the  body. 

ARCH-PRESBYTER,  or 
Arch-Priest,  a  priest  established 
in  some  dioceses  with  a  superiority 
over  the  rest.  He  was  anciently 
chosen  out  of  the  college  of  pres- 
byters, at  the  pleasure  of  the 
bishop.  The  arch-presbyters 
were  much  of  the  same  nature 
with  our  deans  in  cathedral 
churches. 

ARRHABONARII,  a  sect 
who  held  that  the  eucharist  is 
neither  the  real  flesh  or  blood  of 
Christ,  nor  yet  the  sign  of  them, 
but  only  the  pledge  or  earnest 
thereof. 

ARI ANS,  followers  of  Arius,  a 
presbyter  of  the  church  of  Alex- 
andria, about  315,  who  maintain- 
ed that  the  Son  of  God  was  totally 
and  essentially  distinct  from  the 
Father  ;  that  he  was  the  first  and 
noblest  of  those  beings  whom  God 
had  created — the  instrument,  by 
whose    svibortlinate   operation  he 


ARI 


42 


ARI 


formed  the  universe  ;  and,  there- 
fore, inferior  to  the  Father  both 
in  nature  and  dignity :  also,  that 
the  Holy  Ghost  was  not  God,  but 
created  by  the  power  of  the  Son. 
The  Arians  owned  that  the  Son 
was  the  Word ;  but  denied  that 
Word  to  have  been  eternal.  They 
held  that  Christ  had  nothing  of 
man  in  him  but  the  flesh,  to  which 
the  Xoyos^  or  word,  was  joined, 
which  was  the  same  as  the  soul  in 
us. — The  Arians  were  first  con- 
demned and  anathematized  by  a 
council  at  Alexandria,  in  320,  un- 
der Alexander,  bishop  of  that  city, 
who  accused  Arius  of  impiety,  and 
caused  him  to  be  expelled  from 
the  communion  of  the  church ; 
and  afterwards  by  380  fathers  in 
the  general  council  of  Nice,  as- 
sembled by  Constantine,  in  325. 
His  doctrine,  however,  was  not 
extinguished  ;  on  the  contrary,  it 
became  the  reigning  religion,  es- 
pecially in  the  East.  Arius  was 
recalled  from  banishment  by  Con- 
stantine in  two  or  three  years  after 
the  council  of  Nice,  and  the  laws 
thatrhad  been  enacted  against  him 
were  repealed.  Notwithstanding 
this,  Athanasius,  then  bishop  of 
Alexandria,  refused  to  admit  him 
and  his  followers  to  communion. 
This  so  enraged  them,  that,  by 
their  interest  at  court,  they  pro- 
cured that  prelate  to  be  deposed 
and  banished ;  but  the  church  of 
Alexandria  still  refusing  to  admit 
Arius  into  their  communion,  the 
emperor  sent  for  him  to  Constan- 
tinople ;  where,  upon  delivering 
in  a  fresh  confession  of  his  faith  in 
terms  les  offensive,  the  emperor 
commanded  him  to  be  received 
into  their  c6mm,union ;    but  that 


very  evening,  it  is  said,  Arius  died 
as  his  friends  were  conducting 
him  in  triumph  to  the  great  church 
of  Constantinople.  Arius,  pressed 
by  a  natural  want,  stepped  aside, 
but  expired  on  the  spot,  his  bowels 
gushing  out.  The  Arian  party, 
however,  found  a  protector  in 
Constantius,  who  succeeded  his 
father  in  the  East.  They  under- 
went various  revolutions  and  per- 
secutions under  succeeding  empe- 
rors ;  till,  at  length,  Theodosius 
the  Great  exerted  every  effort  to 
suppress  them.  Their  doctrine 
was  carried,  in  the  fifth  century,  in- 
to Africa,  under  the  Vandals  ;  and 
into  Asia  under  the  Goths. — Italy, 
Gaul,,and  Spain,  were  also  deeply 
infected  with  it ;  and  towards  the 
commencement  of  the  sixth  cen- 
tury, it  was  triumphant  in  many 
parts  of  Asia,  Africa,  and  Europe : 
but  it  sunk,  almost  at  once,  when 
the  Vandals  were  driven  out  of 
Africa,  and  the  Goths  out  of  Italy, 
by  the  arms  of  Justinian.  How- 
ever, it  revived  again  in  Italy, 
under  the  protection  of  the  Lom- 
bards, in  the  seventh  century,  and 
and  was  not  extinguished  till 
about  the  end  of  the  eighth. 
Arianism  was  again  revived  in 
the  West  by  Servetus,  in  1531, 
for  which  he  suffered  death.  After 
this  the  doctrine  got  footing  in 
Geneva,  and  in  Poland ;  but  at 
length  degenerated  in  a  great 
measure  into  Socinianism.  Eras- 
mus, it  is  thought,  aimed  at  re- 
viving it,  in  his  commentaries  on 
the  New  Testament ;  and  the 
learned  Grotius  seems  to  lean  that 
way.  Mr.  Whiston  was  one  of 
the  first  divines  who  revived  this 
controversy  in  the  eighteenth  cen- 


A  RI 


43 


ARK 


tury.  He  was  followed  by  Dr. 
Clark,  who  was  chiefly  opposed 
by  Dr.  Waterland.  Those  who 
hold  the  doctrine  which  is  usually 
called  Loxv  Arianism^  say  that 
Christ  pre-existed ;  but  not  as  the 
eternal  Logos  of  the  Father,  or  as 
the  Being  by  whom  he  made  the 
worlds,  and  had  intercourse  with 
the  patriarchs,  or  as  having  any 
certain  rank  or  employment  what- 
ever in  the  divine  dispensations. 
In  modern  times,  the  term  Arian 
is  indiscriminately  applied  to  those 
who  consider  Jesus  simply  subor- 
dinate to  the  Father.  Some  of 
them  believe  Christ  to  have  been 
the  creator  of  the  world  ;  but  they 
all  maintain  that  he  existed  pre- 
viously to  his  incarnation,  though 
in  his  pre-existent  state  they  as- 
sign him  different  degrees  of  dig- 
nity. Hence  the  tern^i^s  High  and 
Low  Arian.  See  Pre-existence. 
Some  of  the  more  recent  vindica- 
tors of  Arianism  have  been  H. 
Taylor^  in  his  Apohgy  of  Ben 
Mordecai  to  his  Friends  for  em- 
bracing Christianity;  Dr.  Har- 
zvood,  in  his  Five  Dissertations ; 
Dr.  Price^  in  his  Sermons  on  the 
I  Christian  Doctrine.  See  also  the 
4th  volume  of  the  Theological  Re- 
pository^ p.  153-163,  and  Cornishes 
Tract  on  the  Pre-existence  of 
Christ. 

For  a  refutation  ■  of  the  Arian 
doctrine, see  article  Jesus  Christ; 
and  Abbadie,  Waterland^  Guyse, 
Hey^  Robinson^  Eveleigh^  Harvker 
on  the  Divinity  of  Christ; — Cala- 
my^  Taylor^  Gill^  Jones^  Pike^ 
and  Simpson^  on  the  Trinity^ 

ARISTOTELIANS,  the  fol- 
lowers of  Aristotle.  They  believed 
in  the  eternity  of  the  world,  and 


represented  the  Deity  as  somewhat 
similar  to  a  principle  of  power 
giving  motion  to  a  machine  ;  and 
as  happy  in  the  contemplation  of 
himself,  but  regardless  of  human 
affairs.  They  were  uncertain  as 
to  the  immortality  of  the  soul. — 
As  this  was  rather  a  philosophical 
than  religious  sect,  we  shall  not 
enlarge  on  it. 

ARK,  or  Noah's  Ark,  a  float- 
ing vessel  built  by  Noah  for  the 
preservation  of  his  family,  and  the 
several  species  of  animals,  during 
the  deluge.     See  Gen.  vi. 

ARK  OF  THE  COVENANT, 
a  small  chest  or  coffer,  three  feet 
nine  inches  in  length,  two  feet 
three  inches  in  breadth,  and 
two  feet  three  inches  in  height,  in 
which  were  contained  the  golden 
pot  that  had  manna,  Aaron's  rod, 
and  the  tables  of  the  covenant. 
The  ark  was  reposited  in  the  ho- 
liest place  of  the  tabernacle.  It 
was  taken  by  the  Philistines,  and 
detained  twenty  (some  say  forty) 
years  at  Kirjath-jearim  ;  but,  the 
people  beingafHicted  with  emerods 
on  account  of  it,  returned  it  with 
divers  presents.  It  was  afterv/ards 
placed  in  the  temple. 

The  lid  or  covering  of  the  ark 
was  called  the  propitiatory^  or 
mercy-seat ;  over  which  two  figures 
were  placed,  called  cherubims^W\^ 
expanded  wings  of  a  peculiar 
form.  Here  the  Shechinah  rest- 
ed both  in  the  tabernacle  and  tem- 
ple in  a  visible  cloud  :  hence  were 
issued  the  Divine  oracles  by  an 
audible  voice  ;  and  the  high  priest 
appeared  before  this  m.ercy-seat 
once  every  year  on  the  great  day 
of  expiation  ;  and  the  Jews,  where- 
ever  they  worshipped,  turned  their 


ARM 


44 


ARM 


faces  towards  the  place  where  the 
ark  stood. 

In  the  second  teniple  there  v,'as 
also  an  ark,  made  of  the  same 
shape  and  dimensions  with  the 
first,  and  put  in  the  same  place, 
but  without  any  of  its  contents 
and  peculiar  honours.  It  was 
used  as  a  representative  of  the 
former  on  the  day  of  expiation, 
and  a  repository  of  the  original 
copy  of  the  holy  scriptures,  collect- 
ed by  Ezra  and  the  men  of  the 
great  synagogue  after  the  captivity; 
and,  in  imitation  of  this,  the  Jews, 
to  this  day,  have  a  kind  of  ark  in 
their  synagogues,  wherein  their 
sacred  books  are  kept. 

ARMENIANS,  the  inhabi- 
tants of  Armenia,  whose  religion 
is  the  christian,  of  the  Eutychian 
sect ;  that  is,  they  hold  but  one 
nature  in  Jesus  Christ-  See  Euty- 
CHiANS.  They  assert  also  the  pro- 
cession of  the  Holy  Ghost  from 
the  Father  only.  They  believe 
that  Christ  at  his  descent  into  hell 
freed  the  souls  of  the  damned  from 
thence,  and  reprieved  them  to  the 
end  of  the  world,  when  they  shall 
be  remanded  to  eternal  flames. 
They  believe  that  the  spuls  of  the 
righteous  shall  not  be  admitted 
to  the  beatific  vision  till  after 
the  resurrection,  notwithstanding 
which  they  pray  to  departed 
saints,  adore  their  pictures,  and 
burn  lamps  before  them.  The 
Armenian  clergy  consist  of  patri- 
archs, archbishops,  doctors,  secu- 
lar priests,  and  monks.  The  Ar- 
menian monks  are  of  the  order  of 
St.  Basil ;  and  every  Wednesday 
and  Friday  they  eat  neither  fish, 
nor  eggs,  nor  oil,  nor  any  thing 
made  of  milk  ;  and  during  Lent 


they  live  upon  nothing  but  roots. 
They  have  seven  sacraments ;  bap- 
tism, confirmation,  penance,  the 
eucharist,  extreme  unction,  orders 

and    matrimony. They    admit 

infants  to  the  communion  at 
two  or  three  months  old.  They 
seem  to  place  the  chief  part  of 
their  religion  in  fastings  and  ab- 
stinences; and,  among  the  clergj% 
the  higher  the  degree,  the  lower 
they  must  live ;  insomuch  that 
it  is  said  the  archbishops  live  on 
nothing  but  pulse.  They  conse- 
crate holy  water  but  once  a  year ; 
at  which  time  every  one  fills  a  pot, 
and  carries  it  home,  which  brings 
in  a  considerable  revenue  to  the 
church. 

ARMINIANS,  persons  who 
follow  the  doctrines  of  Arminius, 
who  was  pastor  at  Amsterdam, 
and  afterwards  professor  of  divi- 
nity at  Lej'den.  Arminius  had 
been  educated  in  the  opinions  of 
Calvin  ;  but,  thinking  the  doctrine 
of  that  great  man  with  regard  to 
free  will, predestination,  and  grace, 
too  severe,  he  began  to  express 
his  doubts  concerning  them  in  the 
year  1591  ;  and,  upon  farther 
inquiry,  adopted  the  sentiments 
of  those  whose  religious  system 
extends  the  love  of  the  Supreme 
Being  and  the  merits  of  Jesus 
Christ  to  all  mankind.  The  Ar- 
minians  are  also  called  Remon- 
strants, because,  in  1611,  they 
presented  a  remonstrance  to  the 
states-general,  wherein  they  state 
their  grievances,  and  pray  for 
relief. 

The  distinguishing  tenets  of  the 
Arminians  may  be  comprised  in 
the  five  following  articles  relative 
to  predestination,    universal   re- 


ARM 


45 


ARM 


demption,  the  corruption  of  man, 
conversion,  and  perseverance,  viz. 

I.  That  God,  from  all  eternity, 
determined  to  bestow  salvation  on 
those  whom  he  foresaw  would  per- 
severe unro  the  end;  and  to  in- 
flict everlasting  punishments  on 
those  who  should  continue  In  their 
unbelief,  and  resist  his  divine  suc- 
cours ;  so  that  election  was  con- 
ditional, and  reprobation,  in  like 
manner,  the  result  of  foreseen  in- 
fidelity and  persevering  wicked- 
ness. 

II.  That  Jesus  Christ,  by  his  suf- 
ferings and  death,  made  an  atone- 
ment for  the  sins  of  all  mankind  in 
general,  and  of  every  individual  in 
particular ;  that,  however,  none 
but  those  who  believe  in  him  can 
be  partakers  of  divine  benefits. 

III.  That  true  faith  cannot  pro- 
ceed from  the  exercise  of  our  na- 
tural faculties  and  powers,  nor 
from  the  force  and  operation  of 
free  will ;  since  man,  in  conse- 
quence of  his  natural  corruption, 
is  incapable  either  of  thinking  or 
doing  any  good  thing;  and  that, 
therefore,  it  is  necessary,  in  order 
to  his  conversion  and  salvation, 
that  he  be  regenerated  and  renew- 
ed by  the  operation  of  the  Holy 
Ghost,  which  is  the  gift  of  God 
through  Jesus  Christ. 

IV.  That  this  divine  grace  or 
energy  of  the  Holy  Ghost  begins 
and  perfects  every  thing  that  can 
be  called  good  in  liian,  and,  con- 
sequently, all  good  works  are  to 
be  attributed  to  God  alone  ;  that, 
nevertheless,  this  grace  is  oflTered 
to  all,  and  does  not  force  men  to 
act  against  their  inclinations,  but 
may  be  resisted  and  rendered  inef- 
fectual by  the  perverse  will  of  the 
impenitent  sinner.    Some  modern 


Arminians  interpret  this  and  the 
last  article  with  a  greater  lati- 
tude. 

V.  That  God  gives  to  the  truly 
faithful  who  are  regenerated  by 
his  grace  the  means  of  preser\'Ing 
themselves  in  this  state.  The  first 
Arminians,  indeed,  had  some 
doubt  with  respect  to  the  closing 
part  of  this  article  ;  but  their  fol- 
lowers uniformly  maintain  *'  that 
the  regenerate  mav  lose  true  justi- 
fying faith,  fall  from  a  state  of 
grace,  and  die  in  their  sins." 

After  the  appointment  of  Armi- 
nius  to  the  theological  chair  at 
Leyden,  he  thought  it  his  duty  to 
avow  and  vindicate  the  principles 
which  he  had  embraced  ;  and  the 
freedom  with  which  he  published 
and  defended  them,  exposed  him 
to  the  resentment  of  those  that  ad- 
hered to  the  theological  system  of 
Geneva,  which  then  prevailed  in 
Holland;  but  his  principal  op- 
ponent was  Gomar,  his  colleague. 
The  controversy  which  was  thus 
begun  became  more  general  after 
the  death  of  Arminius  in  the  year 
1609,  and  threatened  to  involve 
the  United  Provinces  in  civil  dis- 
cord. The  Arminian  tenets  gain- 
ed ground  under  the  mild  and  fa- 
vourable treatment  of  the  magis- 
trates of  Holland,  and  were  adopt- 
ed by  several  persons  of  merit  and 
distinction.  The  Calvinists,  or 
Gomarists,  as  they  were  now  call- 
ed, appealed  to  a  national  synod  ; 
accordingly  the  synod  of  Dort 
was  convened,  by  order  of  the 
states-general,  in  1618  ;  and  was 
composed  of  ecclesiastic  deputies 
from  the  United  Provinces,  as  well 
as  from  the  reformed  churches  of 
England,  Hessia,  Bremen,  Swit- 
zerland, and  the  Palatinate.    The 


ARM 


46 


ART 


prmcipal  advocate  in  favour  of 
the  Arminians  was  Episcopius, 
■who  at  that  time  was  professor  of 
divinity  at  Leyden.  It  was  first 
proposed  to  discuss  the  principal 
subjects  in  dispute,  that  the  Armi- 
nians should  be  allowed  to  state 
and  vittdicate  the  grounds  on 
which  their  opinions  were  found- 
ed ;  but,  some  diflFerence  arising  as 
to  the  proper  mode  of  conducting 
the  debate,  the  Arminians  were 
excluded  from  the  assembly,  their 
case  was  tried  in  their  absence, 
and  they  were  pronounced  guilty 
of  pestilential  errors,  and  con- 
demned as  corruptors  of  the  true 
religion.  A  curious  account  of 
the  proceedings  of  the  above  sy- 
nod maybe  seen  in  a  series  of  let- 
ters written  by  Mr.  John  Hales, 
who  was  present  on  the  occasion. 

In  consequence  of  the  above- 
mentioned  decision,the  Arminians 
\vere  -considered  as  enemies  to 
their  country  and  its  established 
religion,  and  were  much  perse- 
cuted. They  were  treated  with 
great  severity,  and  deprived  of  all 
their  posts  and  employments ;  their 
ministers  were  silenced,  and  their 
congregations  were  suppressed. 
The  great  Bameveldt  was  behead- 
ed on  a  scaffold ;  and  the  learned 
Grotius,  being  condemned  to  per- 
petual imprisonment,fled,  and  took 
refuge  in  France. 

After  the  death  of  prince  Mau- 
rice, who  had  been  a  violent  par- 
tisan in  favour  of  the  Gomarists 
in  the  year  1625,  the  Arminian 
exiles  were  restored  to  their  for- 
mer reputation  and  tranquillit}' ; 
and,  vmder  the  toleration  of  the 
state,  they  erected  churches  and 
founded  a  collejre  at  Amsterdam, 


appointing  Episcopius  the  ,  first 
theological  professor.  The  Ar- 
minian system  has  very  much  pre- 
vailed in  England  since  the  time 
of  archbishop  Laud,  and  its  vota- 
ries in  other  countries  are  very 
numerous.  It  is  generally  sup- 
posed that  a  majoritv  of  the  cler- 
gy in  both  the  established  churches 
of  Great  Britain  favour  the  Armi- 
nian system,  notwithstanding  their 
articles  are  strictly  Calvinistic. 
The  name  of  Mr.  John  Wesley 
hardly  need  be  mentioned  here. 
Eveiy  one  knows  what  an  advo- 
cate he  was  for  the  tenets  of  Ar- 
minius,  and  the  success  he  met 
with.     See  Methodists. 

Some  of  the  principal  writers 
on  the  side  of  the  Arminians  have 
been  Arminius,  Episcopius^  Vor~ 
sius^Grotius^ CurcelUus^  Limborch^ 
Le  Clerc^  Wetstein^  Goodivin^  Whit- 
by^  Taylor^  Fletcher^  &c.  &c. 

Some  of  the  principal  writers 
on  the  other  side  have  been  Po/- 
hill  in  his  Book  on  the  Decrees ; 
John  Edwards  in  his  Veritas  Re- 
dux;  Cole  in  his  Sovereignty  of 
God;  Edxvards  on  the  Will,  and 
Original  Sin;  Dr.  Owen  in  his 
Display  of  An7imianism,  and  on 
particular  Redemption ;  Gill  in  his 
Cause  of  God  and  Truth ;  and 
Toplady  in  almost  all  his  works. 

ARNOLDISTS,the  followers 
of  Arnold,  of  Brescia,  in  the 
twelfth  century,  who  was  a  great 
declaimer  against  the  wealth  and 
vices  of  the  clergv.  He  is  also 
charged  with  preachingagainst bap- 
tism and  the  eucharist.  He  was 
burnt  at  Rome  in  1155,  and  his 
ashes  cast  into  the  Tiber. 

ARTEMONTES,  a  denomi- 
nation in  the  second  century  ;  so 


ART 


47 


ART 


called  from  Artemon,  who  taught 
that,  at  the  birth  of  the  man  Christ, 
a  certain  divine  energy,  or  portion 
of  the  divine  nature,  united  itself 
to  him. 

ARTICLE  OF  FAITH  is,  by 

some,  defined  a  point  of  christian 
doctrine,  which  we  are  obliged  to 
believe  as  having  been  revealed  by 
God  himself,  and  allowed  and  es- 
tablished as  such  by  the  church. 
See  Confession. 

ARTICLES    OF    THE 
CHURCH    OF    ENGLAND. 

See  Church  qf  England. 

ARTICLES    LAMBETH. 

The  Lambeth  articles  were  so  call- 
ed, because  drawn  up  at  Lambeth 
palace,  under  the  eye  and  with  the 
assistance  of  archbishop  Whitgift, 
bishop  Bancroft,  bishop  Vaughan, 
and  other  eminent  dignitaries  of 
the  church.  That  the  reader  may 
judge  how  Calvinistic  the  clergy 
were  under  the  reign  of  queen  Eli- 
zabeth, we  shall  here  insert  them. 
*'  1.  God  hath  from  eternity  pre- 
destinated certain  persons  to  life, 
and  hath  reprobated  certain  per- 
sons unto  death. — 2.  The  moving 
or  efficient  cause  of  predestination 
unto  life  is  not  the  foresight  of 
faith,  or  of  perseverance,  or  of 
good  works,  or  of  any  thing  that 
is  in  the  persons  predestinated ; 
but  the  alone  will  of  God's  good 
pleasure. — 3.  The  predestinati  are 
a  pre-determined  and  certain  num- 
be;r,  which  can  neither  be  lessened 
nor  incr-eased. — 4.  Such  as  are 
not  predestinated  to  salvation  shall 
inevitably  be  condemned  on  ac- 
count of  their  sins. — 5.  The  true, 
lively,  and  justifying  faith,  and  the 
Spirit  of  God  justifying,  is  not  ex- 


tinguished, doth  not  utterly  fail, 
doth  not  vanish  away,  in  the  elect, 
either  finally  or  totally. — 6.  A 
true  believer,  that  is,  one  who  is 
endued  with  justifying  faith,  is 
certified  by  the  full  assurance  of 
faith  that  his  sins  are  forgiven,  and 
that  he  shall  be  everlastingly  sav- 
ed by  Christ. — 7.  Saving  grace  is 
not  allowed,  is  not  imparted,  is 
not  granted  to  all  men,  by  which 
they  may  be  saved  if  they  will. — 
8.  No  man  is  able  to  come  to 
Christ,  unless  it  be  given  him,  and 
unless  the  Father  draw  him ;  and 
all  men  are  not  drawn  by  the  Fa- 
ther, that  they  may  come  to  his 
Son. — 9.  It  is  not  in  the  will  or 
power  of  every  man  to  be  saved." 
What  gave  occasion  to  the  gam- 
ing these  articles  was  this : — Some 
persons  had 'distinguished  them- 
selves at  the  university  of  Cam- 
bridge by  opposing  predestination. 
Alarmed  at  the  opinions  that  were 
vented,  the  above  mentioned  arch- 
bishop, with  others,  composed 
these  articles,  to  prevent  the  belief 
of  a  contrary  doctrine.  These, 
when  completed,  were  sent  down 
to  Cambridge,  to  which  the  scho- 
lars were  strictly  enjoined  to  con^ 
form. 

ARTOTYRITES,  a  christian 
sect  in  the  primitive  church,  who 
celebrated  the  eucharist  with  bread 
and  cheese.  The  word  is  derived 
from  «pT©^,  "  bread,"  and  rvpor^ 
"  cheese."  The  Artotyrites  ad- 
mitted women  to  the  priesthood 
and  episcopacy  ;  and  Epiphanius 
tells  us  that  it  was  a  common  thing 
to  see  seven  girls  at  once  enter  in- 
to their  church  robed  in  white, 
and  holding  a  torch  in  their 
hand ;  where  they  wept  and  be- 


ASC 


48 


ASS 


wailed  the  wretchedness  of  human 

nature,  and  the  miseries  of  this  life. 

ASCENSION  OF  CHRIST, 

his  visible  elevation  to  heaven. 
The  ascension  of  Jesus  Christ  was 
not  only  presignified  by  many 
scripture  types,  but  also  by  many 
remarkable  scripture  prophecies, 
Ps.  xlvii,  5.  Ps.  ex,  1.  Dan.  vii, 
13,  14.   Mic.  ii,  13.  Ps.  Ixviii,  18. 

The  evidences  of  his  ascension 
were  numerous.  The  disciples 
saw  him  ascend  Acts,  i,  9,  10. 
Two  angels  testified  that  he  did 
ascend,  Acts  i,  11.  Stephen,  Paul, 
and  John,  saw  him  in  his  ascend- 
ed state.  Acts  vii,  55^  56.  Acts  ix. 
Rev.  i.  The  marvellous  descent  of 
the  Holy  Ghost  demonstrated  it, 
Johnxvi,  7>  14.  Acts  ii,  33.  The 
terrible  overthrow  and  dispersion 
of  the  Jewish  nation  is  a  standing 
proof  of  it,  John  viii,  21.  Matt. 
XXV  i,  64. 

The  time  of  his  ascension.  It 
was  forty  days  after  his  resurrec- 
tion. He  continued  so  many  days 
on  earth,  that  he  might  give  many 
repeated  proofs  of  his  resurrection. 
Acts  i,  3 ;  that  he  might  instruct 
his  followers  in  every  thing  which 
pertained  to  the  abolishment  of 
the  Jewish  ceremonies.  Acts  i,  3  ; 
and  that  he  might  open  to  them 
the  scriptures  concerning  himself, 
and  renew  their  commission  to 
preach  the  gospel.  Acts  i,  5,  6. 
Mark  xvi,  15. 

The  manner  of  his  ascension.  It 
was  from  Mount  Olivet  to  heaven. 
Acts  i,  12  ;  not  in  appearance  on- 
vly,  but  in  reality  and  truth  ;  visi- 
bly and  locally  ;  a  real  motion  of 
his  human  nature  ;  sudden,  swift, 
glorious,  and  in  a  triumphant 
manner.     He  was  parted  from  his 


disciples  while  he  was  solemnly 
blessing  them ;  and  multitudes  of 
angels  attended  him  with  shouts 
of  praise,  Ps.  Ixviii,  17.  Ps.  xlvii, 
5,  6. 

The  effects  or  ends  of  Chrisfs 
ascension  rvere^  1.  To  fulfil  the 
prophecies  and  types  concerning 
it. — 2.  To  take  upon  him  more 
openly  the  exercise  of  his  kingly 
office. — 3.  To  receive  gifts  for 
men  both  ordinary  and  extraor- 
dinary, Ps.  Ixviii,  18. — 4.  To 
open  the  way  into  heaven  for  his 
people,  Heb.  x,  19,  20. — 5.  To 
assure  the  saints  of  their  ascension 
also,  John  xiv,  1,  2. 

ASCETIC,  one  who  retires 
from  the  world  for  the  purpose  of 
devotion  and  mortification.  When 
the  monks  came  in  fashion,  this 
title  was  bestowed  upon  them,  es- 
pecially such  as  lived  in  solitude. 
It  was  also  the  title  of  several 
books  of  spiritual  exercises,  as  the 
Ascetics  or  devout  exercises  of  St. 
Basil,  &c. 

ASCODROGITES,a  denomi- 
nation which  arose  about  the  year 
181.  They  brought  into  their 
churches  bags  or  skins  filled  with 
new  wine,  to  represent  the  new 
bottles  filled  with  new  wine  men- 
tioned by  Christ.  They  danced 
round  these  bags  or  skins,  and,  it 
is  said,  intoxicated  themselves 
with  the  wine. 

ASCOODRUTES,  a  sect,  in 
the  second  century,  who  rejected 
the  use  of  all  symbols  and  sacra- 
ments on  this  principle,  that  incor- 
poreal things  cannot  be  communi- 
cated by  things  corporeal,  nor  di- 
vine mysteries  by  any  thing  visible. 

ASSEMBLIES  OF  THE 
CLERGY  are  called  convocations, 


ASS 


49 


ASS 


nods,  councils.  The  annual  meet- 
ing of  the  church  of  Scotland  is 
called  a  general  assembly.  In  this 
assembly  his  majesty  is  represent- 
ed by  his  commissioner,  who  dis- 
solves one  meeting  and  calls  an- 
other in  the  name  of  the  king, 
v/hile  the  moderator  does  the  same 
in  the  name  of  Jesus  Christ. 
See  Convocation,  Presbyteri- 
ans. 

ASSENT,  that  act  of  the  mind 
Avhereby  it  takes  or  acknowledges 
any  proposition  to  be  true  or  false. 
There  are  three  degrees  of  assent; 
— conjecture^  opinion^  and  belief. 
Conjecture  is  but  a  slight  and 
weak  inclination  to  assent  to  the 
thing  proposed,  by  reason  of  the 
weighty  objections  that  lie  against 
it.  Opinion  is  a  more  steady  and 
fixed  assent,  when  a  man  is  almost 
certain,  though  yet  with  some  fear 
of  the  contrary  remains  with  him. 
Belief  is  a  more  full  and  assured 
assent  to  the  truth.     See  Belief. 

ASSURANCE  is  the  firm  per- 
suasion we  have  of  the  certainty 
of  any  thing,  or  a  certain  expec- 
tation of  something  future. 

Assurance  of  the  Understanding 
is  a  well-grounded  knowledge  of 
divine  things  founded  on  God's 
word.  Col.  ii,  2. — Assurance  of 
Faith  does  not  relate  to  our  per- 
sonal interest  in  Christ,  but  con- 
sists in  a  firm  belief  of  the  revela- 
tion that  God  has  given  us  of 
Christ  in  his  word,  with  an  entire 
dependanceon  him,  Heb.x,  22. — 
Assurance  of  Hope  is  a  firm  ex- 
pectation that  God  will  grant  us 
the  complete  enjoyment  of  what 
he  has  promised,  Heb.  vi,  11. 

The  doctrine  of  assurance  has 
Vol.  I.  H 


afforded  matter  for  dispute  among 
divines.  Some  have  asserted  that 
it  is  not  to  be  obtained  in  the  pre- 
sent state,  allowing  that  persons 
may  be  in  a  hopeful  way  to  salva- 
tion, but  that  they  can  have  no 
real  or  absolute  assurance  of  it : 
but  this  is  clearly  refuted  by  fact 
as  well  as  by  scripture.  That  it 
is  to  be  obtained  is  evident,  for 
we  have  reason  to  believe  many 
persons  have  actually  obtained  it. 
Job  xix,  25.  Ps.  xvii,  15.  2d  Tim. 
i,  12.  The  scriptures  exhort  us  to 
obtain  it,  2d  Cor.  xiii,  5.  Heb. 
vi,  11.  IstThess.  v,21.  The  Ho- 
ly Spirit  is  said  to  bear  witness  of 
it,  Rom.  viii.  16.  The  exercise  of 
the  christian  graces  is  considered 
as  a  proof  of  it,  1st  John  iii,  14. 
1st  John  ii,  3.  We  must,  how- 
ever, guard  against  presumption ; 
for  a  mere  persuasion  that  Christ 
is  our's,  is  no  proof  that  he  is  so. 
We  must  have  evidence  before  we 
can  have  assurance.  It  is  neces- 
sary to  obser\^e  also,  that  it  is  not 
a  duty  imposed  upon  all  mankind, 
so  that  every  one,  in  whatsoever 
state  he  may  be,  ought  to  be  fully 
persuaded  of  his  salvation.  "  We 
do  not  affirm,"  says  Saurin,  "  that 
christians  of  whose  sincerity  there 
may  be  some  doubt  have  a  right 
to  assurance  ;  that  backsliders,  as 
such,  ought  to  persuade  them- 
selves that  they  shall  be  saved ;  nor 
do  we  say  that  christians  who  have 
arrived  to  the  highest  degree  of 
holiness  can  be  persuaded  of  the 
certainty  of  their  salvation  in  eve- 
ry period  of  their  lives  ;  nor,  if 
left  to  their  own  efforts,  can  they 
enjoy  it :  but  believers  supported 
by  the  Divine  aid,  who  walk  iu  all 


ASS 


50 


AST 


good  conscience  before  him,  these 
only  have  ground  to  expect  this 
privilege. 

Some  divines  have  maintained 
that  assurance  is  included  in  the 
very  essence  of  faith,  so  that  a 
man  cannot  have,  faith  without 
assurance  ;  but  we  must  distin- 
guish between  assurance  and  jus- 
tifying faith.  The  apostle.  Indeed, 
speaks  of  the  full  assurance  of 
faith ;  but  then  this  is  a  full  and 
firm  persuasion  of  what  the  gos- 
pel reveals ;  whereas  the  assurance 
we  are  speaking  of  relates  to  our 
personal  interest  in  Christ,  and  is 
an  effect  of  this  faith,  and  not  faith 
itself.  Faith  in  Christ  certainly 
includes  some  idea  of  assurance  ; 
for,  except  we  be  assured  that  he 
is  the  Saviour,  we  shall  never  go 
to  or  rely  upon  him  as  such :  but 
faith  in  Christ  does  not  imply  an 
aasurance  of  our  interest  in  him  ; 
for  there  may  be  faith  long  before 
the  assurance  of  personal  interest 
commences.  The  confounding  of 
these  ideas  has  been  the  cause  of 
presumption  on  the  one  hand,  and 
despair  on  the  other.  When  men 
have  been  taught  that  faith  con- 
sisted in  believing  that  (/hrist  died 
for  them,  and  been  assured  that, 
if  they  can  only  believe  so,  all  is 
well,  and  thai  then  they  are  im- 
mediately pardoned  and  justified, 
the  consequence  has  been,  that 
the  bold  and  self-conceited  have 
soon  wrought  themselves  up  to 
such  a  persuasion,  without  any 
ground  for  it,  to  their  own  decep- 
tion ;  whilst  the  dejected,  humble, 
and  poor  in  spirit,  not  being  able 
to  work  themselves  to  such  a  pitch 
of  confidence,  have  concluded  that 


they  have  not  the  faith  of  God's 
elect,  and  must  inevitably  be  lost. 

The  means  to  attain  assurance 
are  not  those  of  an  extraordinary 
kind,  as  some  people  imagine  j 
such  as  visions,  dreams,  voices, 
&c.  J  but  such  as  are  ordinary — 
self-examination,  humble  and  con- 
stant prayer,  consulting  the  sacred 
bracles,  christian  communication, 
attendance  on  the  divine  ordinances 
and  perseverance  in  the  path  of 
duty ;  without  which  all  our  as- 
surance is  but  presumption,  and 
our  profession  but  hypocrisy. 

Assurance  may  be  lost  for  a  sea- 
son through  bodily  diseases  which 
depress  the  spirits,  unwatchful- 
ness,  falling  into  sin,  manifold 
temptations,  worldly  cares,  and 
neglect  of  private  duty.  He,  there- 
fore, who  would  wish  to  enjoy 
this  privilege,  let  him  cultivate 
communion  with  God,  exercise  a 
watchful  spirit  against  his  spiritual 
enemies,  and  give  himself  unre- 
servedly to  Him  whose  he  is,  and 
whom  he  professes  to  serve.  See 
Sauri7i's  Ser.^  vol.  iii,  ser.  10, 
Eng.  ed. ;  Case's  Sermons^  ser.  13 ; 
Lambert's  Ser.  on  John  ix,  35  j 
Herveifs  Theron  and  Aspasia^ 
dialogue  17;  Hoxve's  Works ^  vol. 
i,  p.  342,  348;  Brooks  on  Assur- 
ance; Horx  SoU^  vol.  ii.  p.  269. 

ASSURITANS,  a  branch  of 
the  Donatists,  who  held  that  the 
Son  was  inferior  to  the  Father, 
and  the  Holy  Ghost  to  the  Son. 
See  Donatists. 

ASTONISHMENT,  a  kjnd 
or  degree  of  wonder  introduced  by. 
surprise.  This  emotion  always 
relates  to  things  of  the  highest  im- 
portance ;  to  things  which  appear 


ATH 


51 


ATH 


too  vast  and  extensive  for  the 
grasp  of  intellect,  rather  than  to 
any  thing  of  an  intricate  nature. 
The  body  marks  in  a  striking  man- 
ner the  singular  state  of  the  mind 
under  this  emotion.  The  eyes  are 
firmly  fixed,  without  being  direct- 
ed to  any  particular  object;  the 
character  of  countenance,  which 
v/as  formed  by  the  habitual  influ- 
ence of  some  predominant  affec- 
tion, is  for  a  time  effaced ;  and  a 
suspension  of  every  other  expres- 
sion, a  certain  vacuity,  strongly 
notes  this  state  of  mind. 

ATHANASIANS,  those  who 
profess  the  sentiments  held  in  the 
Athanasian  Creed.  See  Creed. 

ATHEIST,  one  who  denies 
the  existence  of  God  :^this  is  cal- 
led speculative  atheism.  Profes- 
sing to  believe  in  God,  and  yet 
acting  contrary  to  this  belief,  is 
called  practical  atheism.  Absurd 
and  irrational  as  atheism  is,  it  has 
had  its  votaries  and  martyrs.  In 
the  seventeenth  century,  Spinosa, 
a  foreigner,  was  its  noted  defend- 
er. LucilioVanini,  a  native  of  Na- 
ples, also  publicly  taught  atheism 
in  France;  and,  being  convicted 
of  it  at  Toulouse,  was  condemned 
and  executed  in  1619.  It  has 
been  questioned,  however,  whe- 
ther any  man  ever  seriously  adopt- 
ed such  a  principle.  The  preten- 
sions to  it  have  been  generally 
founded  on  pride  or  affectation. 
The  open  avowal  of  atheism  by 
several  of  the  leading  members  of 
the.  French  convention  seems  to 
have  been  an  extraordinary  moral 
phenomenon.  This,  however,  as 
we  have  seen,  was  too  vague  and 
uncomfortable  a  principle  to  last 
long.  Archbishop  Tillotson  j  ustly 


observes,  that  speculative  atheism 
is  unreasonable  upon  five  accounts. 
1.  Because  it  gives  no  tolerable 
accovint  of  the  existence  of  the 
world. — 2.  It  does  not  give  any 
reasonable  account  of  the  univer- 
sal consent  of  mankind  in  this  ap- 
prehension, that  there  is  a  God.—* 
3.  It  requires  more  evidence  for 
things  than  they  are  capable  of 
giving. — 4.  The  Atheist  pretends 
to  know  that  which  no  man  can 
know. — 5.  Atheism  contradicts  it- 
self. Under  the  first  of  these  he 
thus  argues: — "  I  appeal  to  any 
man  of  reason  whether  any  thing 
can  be  more  unreasonable  than 
obstinately  to  impute  an  effect  to 
chance,  which  carries  in  the  very 
face  of  it  all  the  arguments  and 
characters  of  a  wise  design  and 
contrivance.  Was  ever  any  con- 
siderable work,  in  which  there 
was  required  a  great  variety  of 
parts,  and  a  regular  and  orderly 
disposition  of  those  parts,  done  by 
chance  ?  Will  chance  fit  means  to 
ends,  and  that  in  ten  thousand  in- 
stances, and  not  fail  in  any  one? 
How  often  might  a  man,  after  he 
had  jumbled  a  set  of  letters  in  a 
bag,  fling  them  out  upon  the  ground 
before  they  would  fall  into  an  ex- 
act poem ;  yea,  or  so  much  as 
make  a  good  discourse  in  prose  ? 
And  may  not  a  little  book  be  as 
easily  made  by  chance  as  the  great 
volume  of  the  Avorld  ?  How  long 
might  a  man  be  in  sprinkling  co- 
lours upon  canvass  with  a  careless 
hand,  before  they  would  happen 
to  make  the  exact  picture  of  a 
man  ?  And  is  a  man  easier  made 
by  chance  than  his  picture  ;'  How 
long  might  twenty  thousand  blind 
men,  which  should   be  sent  out 


ATH 


52 


ATO 


from  several  remote  parts  of  Eng- 
land, wander  up  and  down  before 
they  would  all  meet  upon  Salis- 
bury plain,  and  fall  into  rank  and 
file  in  the  exact  order  of  an  army? 
And,  yet,  this  is  much  more  easy 
to  be  imagined  than  how  the  in- 
numerable blind  parts  of  matter 
should  rendezvous  themselves  into 
a  world.  A  man  that  sees  Henry 
the  Seventh's  chapel  at  Westmin- 
ster might  with  as  good  reason 
maintain  (yea,  with  much  better, 
considering  the  vast  difference  be- 
twixt that  little  structure  and  the 
huge  fabric  of  the  world)  that  it 
was  never  contrived  or  built  by 
any  means,  but  that  the  stones  did 
by  chance  grow  into  those  curious 
figures  into  which  they  seem  to 
have  been  cut  and  graven  ;  and 
that  upon  a  time  (as  tales  usually 
begin)  the  m?iterials  of  that  build- 
ing, the  stone,  mortar,  timber, 
iron,  lead,  and  glass,  happily  met 
together,  and  very  fortunately 
ranged  themselves  into  that  deli- 
cate order  in  which  we  see  them 
now,  so  close  compacted,  that  it 
must  be  a  very  great  chance  that 
parts  them  again.  What  would 
the  world  think  of  a  man  that 
should  advance  such  an  opinion  as 
this,  and  v^rite  a  book  for  it  ?  If 
they  would  do  him  right,  they 
ought  to  look  upon  him  as  mad ; 
but  yet  with  a  little  more  reason 
than  any  man  can  have  to  say  that 
the  world  was  made  by  chance, 
or  that  the  first  men  grew  up  out 
of  the  earth  as  plants  do  now. 
For,  can  any  thing  be  more  ridi- 
culous, and  against  all  reason,  than 
to  ascribe  the  production  of  men 
to  the  first  fruitfulness  of  the  earth, 
without  so  much  as  one  instance 


and  experiment,  in  any  age  or  his- 
tor}',  to  countenance  so  monstrous 
a  supposition?  The  thing  is,  at 
first  sight,  so  gross  and  palpable, 
that  no  discourse  about  it  can 
make  it  more  apparent.  And, 
yet,  these  shameful  beggars  of 
principles  give  this  precarious  ac- 
count of  the  original  of  things  ; 
assume  to  themselves  to  be  the 
men  of  reason,  the  great  wits  of 
the  world,  the  only  cautious  and 
wary  persons  that  hate  to  be  im- 
posed upon,  that  must  have  con- 
vincing evidence  for  every  thing, 
and  can  admit  of  nothing  without 
a  clear  demonstration  for  it/'  See 
Existence  of  God. 

Some  of  the  principal  writers  on 
the  existence  of  a  Deity  have  been 
Nexvton.,  Boyle^  Cheijne^  Locke, 
Nieinuentyt^  Derham,  Bentley^ 
Ray^  Cud-worth,  Samuel  and  John 
Clarke^  Abernethy^  Balguy^  Bax- 
ter^ Fenelon^  &c.  &c.  Tillotson's 
sermon  on  the  subject,  as  quoted 
above,  has  been  considered  as  one 
of  the  best  in  the  English  language. 
See  ser.  1,  vol.  i. 

ATONEMENT  is  the  satisfy- 
ing Divine  Justice  by  Jesus  Christ 
giving  himself  a  ransom  for  us, 
undergoing  the  penalty  due  to  our 
sins,  and  thereby  releasing  us  from 
that  punishment  which  God  might 
justly  infiict  upon  us,  Rom.  v,  11, 
The  Hebrew  word  signifies  cover- 
zn^,and  intimates  that  our  offences 
are,  by  a  proper  atonement,  co- 
v^ered  from  the  avenging  justice 
of  God.  In  order  to  understand  the 
manjier  wherein  Christ  becomes 
an  atonement,  "  we  should,"  says 
Dr.  Watts,  "  consider  the  follow- 
ing propositions,  1.  The  great  C-iod 
having   made  man,  appointed  to 


ATO 


53 


AT  O 


govern  him  by  a  wise  and  right- 
eous law,  wherein  glory  and  ho- 
nour, life  and  immortality,  are  the 
designed  rewards  for  perfect  obe- 
dience ;  but  tribulation  and  wrath, 
pain  and  death,  are  the  appointed 
recompense  to  those  who  violate 
this  law.  Gen.  iii.  Rom.  ii,  6,  16. 
Rom.  i,  32.-^2.  All  mankind  have 
broken  this  law,  Romans  iii,  23, 
Rom.  v,  12. — 3.  God,  in  his  infi- 
nite wisdom,  did  not  think  fit  to 
pardon  sinful  man,  without  some 
compensation  for  his  broken  law  ; 
for,  1.  If  the  great  Ruler  of  the 
world  had  pardoned  the  sins  of 
men  without  any  satisfaction,  then 
his  laws  might  have  seemed  not 
worth  the  vindicating. — 2.  Men 
would  have  been  tempted  to  per- 
sist in  their  rebellion,  and  to  re- 
peat their  old  offences. — 3.  His 
forms  of  government  among  his 
creatures  might  have  appeared  as 
a  matter  ot  small  importance. — 4. 
God  had  a  mind  to  make  a  very 
illustrious  display  both  of  his  jus- 
tice and  of  his  grace  among  man- 
kind ;  on  these  accounts  he  would 
not  pardon  sin  without  a  satisfac- 
tion.— 5.  Man,  sinful  man,  is  not 
able  to  make  any  satisfaction  to 
God  for  his  own  sins,  neither  by 
his  labours,  nor  by  his  sufferings, 
Eph.  ii,  1,  8,  9. — 6.  Though  man 
be  incapable  to  satisfy  for  his  own 
violation  of  the  law,  yet  God 
would  not  suffer  all  mankind  to 
perish. — 7.  Because  God  intend- 
ed to  make  a  full  display  of  the  ter- 
rors of  his  justice,  and  his  divine 
resentment  for  the  violation  of  his 
law,  therefore  he  appointed  his 
own  Son  to  satisfy  for  the  breach 
of  it,  by  becoming  a  proper  sacri- 
fice  of  expiation   or   atonement, 


Gal.  iii,  10,  13.— 8,  The  Son  of 
God  being  immortal,  could  not 
sustain  .all  these  penalties  of  the 
law  which  man  had  broken  with- 
out taking  the  mortal  nature  of 
man  upon  him,  without  assuming 
flesh  and  blood,  Heb.  ii,  13,  14. — 
9.  The  Divine  Being  having  re- 
ceived such  ample  satisfaction  for 
sin  by  the  sufferings  of  his  own 
Son,  can  honourably  forgive  his 
creature  man^  who  was  the  trans- 
gressor, Rom.  iii,  25,  26.  Nozu 
that  this  doctrine  is  true,  "will  ap- 
pear, if  -we  consider,  1.  That  an 
atonement  for  sin,  or  an  effectual 
method  to  answer  the  demands  of 
an  offended  God,  is  the  first  great 
blessing  guilty  man  stood  in  need 
of,  Mic.  vi,  6,  7. — 2.  The  very 
first  discoveries  of  grace  which 
were  made  to  man  after  his  fall 
implied  in  them  something  of  an 
atonement  for  sin,  and  pointed  to 
the  propitiation  Christ  has  now 
made,  Gen.  iii,  15. — 3.  The  train 
of  ceremonies  which  were  appoint- 
ed by  God  in  the  Jewish  church 
are  plain  significations  of  such  an 
atonement,  2d  Cor.  iii.  Col.  ii,  7, 
8,  9.  Heb.  X. — 4.  Some  of  the  pro- 
phecies confirm  and  explain  the 
first  promise,  and  shew  that  Christ 
was  to  die  as  an  atoning  sacrifice 
for  the  sins  of  men,  Dan.  ix,  24 
to  26.  Is.  liii. — 5.  Our  Saviour 
himself  taught  us  the  doctrine  of 
the  atonement  for  sin  by  his  death, 
Matt.  XX,  28.  John  vi,  51.  Luke 
xxii,  19. — 6.  The  terrors  of  soul,« 
the  consternation  and  inward  ago- 
nies which  our  blessed  Lord  sus- 
tained a  little  before  his  death, 
were  a  sufiicient  proof  that  he  en- 
dured punishments  in  his  soul 
which  were  due  to  sin,  Mark  xiv, 


AT  O 


54 


ATO 


S3.  Heb.  V,  7. — 7.  This  doctrine 
is  declared,  and  confirmed,  and 
explained  at  large,  by  the  apostles 
in  their  writings,  1st  Cor.  xv,  3. 
Eph.  i,  7.  1st  John  ii,  2,  &c.  &c. 
— 8.  This  was  the  doctrine  that 
was  witnessed  to  the  world  by  the 
amazing  gifts  of  the  Holy  Ghost, 
which  attended  the  gospel.  [See 
the  Acts  of  the  Aposdes.]  The  in- 
fer ences  and  uses  to  be  derived  from 
this  doctrine  are  these:  1.  How 
vain  are  all  the  labours  and  pre- 
tences of  mankind  to  seek  or  hope 
for  any  better  religion  than  that 
which  is  contained  in  the  gospel 
of  Christ.  It  is  here  alone  that 
we  can  find  the  solid  and  rational 
principles  of  reconciliation  to  an 
offended  God,  Heb.  iv,  14. — 2. 
How  strange  and  imreasonable  is 
the  doctrine  of  the  Popish  church, 
who,  while  they  profess  to  believe 
the  religion  of  Christ,  yet  intro- 
duce many  other  methods  of  atone- 
ment for  sin,  besides  the  sufferings 
of  the  Son  of  God.  [See  above.] 
■ — ^3.  Here  is  a  solid  foundation, 
€Hi  which  the  greatest  of  sinners 
may  hope  for  acceptance  with  God, 
1st  Tim.  i,  1 5. — 4.  This  doctrine 
should  be  used  as  a  powerful  mo- 
tive to  excite  repentance.  Acts  v, 
31. — 5.  We  should  use  this  atone- 
ment of  Christ  as  our  constant 
way  of  access  to  God  in  all  our 
prayers,  Heb.  x,  19,22. — 6.  Also 
as  a'.divine  guard  against  sin,  Rom. 
vi,  1,  2.  1st  Pet.  i,  15, 19. — 7.  As 
an  argument  of  prevailing  force  to 
be  used  in  prayer,  Rom.  viii,  32, 
— 8.  As  a  spring  of  love  to  God, 
and  to  his  Son  Jesus  Christ,  1st 
John  iv,  10. — 9.  As  a  strong  per- 
suasive to  that  love  and  pity  which 
■vye  should  shew  on  all  occasions  to 
our  fellow  creatures,  1st  John  iv. 


11. — 10.  It  should  excite  patience 
and  holy  joy  under  afflictions  and 
earthly  sorrows,  Rom.  v,  1  to  3. 
— 11.  We  should  consider  it  as  an 
invitation  to  the  Lord^s  supper, 
where  Christ  is  set  forth  to  us  in 
the  memorials  of  his  propitiation 
— 12.  As  a  most  effectual  defence 
against  the  terrors  of  dpng,  and 
as  our  joyful  hope  of  a  blessed  re- 
surrection, 1st  Cor.  XV,  56. — 13. 
Lastly,  as  a  divine  allurement  to 
the  upper  world."  See  Watts''s 
Ser.^  ser.  34,  ^5^  36,  37  ;  Evans  on 
the  Atonement ;  Dr.  Ozuen  on  the 
Satisfaction  of  Christ;  Wesfs  Scrip- 
ture Doctrine  of  the  Atonemeiit ; 
Herveifs  Theron  and  Aspasia^dhdA. 
3 ;  Dr.  Magee's  Discourses  on  the 
Atonement;  ferrarn^s  Letters  on 
ditto. 

ATTRIBUTES  OF  GOD 
are  the  several  qualities  or  perfec- 
tions of  the  Divine  nature.  Some 
distinguish  them  into  negative, 
and  positive  or  affirmative.  The 
negative  are  such  as  remove  from 
him  whatever  is  imperfect  in 
creatures  ;  such  are  infinity,  im- 
mutability, immortality,  &c.  The 
positive  are  such  as  assert  some 
perfection  in  God  which  is  in 
and  of  himself,  and  which  in  the 
creatures,  in  any  measure,  is 
from  him.  This  distinction  is 
now  mostly  discarded.  Some  dis- 
tinguish them  into  absolute  and 
relative :  absolute  ones  are  such 
as  agree  with  the  essence  of  God ; 
as  Jehovah,  Jah,  &c. :  relative 
ones  are  such  as  agree  with  him  in 
time,  v/ith  some  respect  to  his 
creatures,  as  Creator,  Governor, 
Preserver,  Redeemer,  &c.  But 
the  more  commonly  received 
distinction  of  the  attributes  of 
God,  is    into   communicable    and 


A  V  A 


55 


AUG 


incommunicable  ones.  The  com- 
municable ones  are  those  of  which 
there  is  some  resemblance  in  men ; 
as  goodness,  holiness,  wisdom,  &c.: 
the  incommunicable  ones  are  such 
as  there  is  no  appearance  or  sha- 
dow of  in  men  ;  as  independence, 
immutability,  immensity,  and  eter- 
nity. See  those  different  articles 
in  this  work ;  and  Bates^  Charnock^ 
Abernethy^  and  Saur'in^  on  the  Di- 
vine Perfections. 

ATTRITION.  The  casuists 
of  the  Church  of  Rome  have  made 
a  distinction  between  a  perfect  and 
an  imperfect  contrition.  The  latter 
they  call  attrition;  which  is  the 
lowest  degree  of  repentance,  or  a 
sorrow  for  sin  arising  from  a  sense 
of  shame,  or  any  temporal  incon- 
venience attendingthe  commission 
of  it,  or  merely  from  fear  of  the 
punishment  due  to  it,  without  anj^ 
resolution  to  sin  no  more ;  in  con- 
sequence which  doctrine,  they 
teach  that,  after  a  wicked  and  fla- 
gitious course  of  life,  a  man  may 
be  reconciled  to  God,  and  his  sins 
forgiven  on  his  death-bed,  by 
confessing  them  to  the  priest  with 
this  imperfect  degree  of  sorrow 
and  repentance.  This  distinction 
was  settled  by  the  council  of  Trent. 
It  might, however,  be  easily  shewn 
that  the  mere  soitow  for  sin  be- 
cause of  its  consequences,  and  not 
on  account  of  its  evil  nature,  is 
no  more  acceptable  to  God  than 
hypocrisy  itself  can  be. 

AVARICE  is  an  immediate 
love  to  and  desire  after  riches,  at- 
tended with  extreme  diffidence  of 
future  events,  making  a  person  rob 
himself  of  the  necessary  comforts 
of  life,  for  fear  of  diminishing  hjs 
riches.  See  Covetousness  and 
Miser. 


AVERSION,  hatred  or  dis- 
like.—Dr.  Watts  and  others  op- 
pose aversion  to  desire.  When 
we  look,  say  they,  upon  an  object 
as  good,  it  excites  desire ;  but  when 
we  look  upon  an  object  as  evil,  it 
awakens  what  we  call  aversion  or 
avoidance.  But  lord  Kaims  ob- 
serves, that  aversion  is  opposed  to 
affection  and  not  to  desire.  We 
have  an  affection  to  one  person ; 
we  have  an  aversion  to  another: 
the  former  disposes  us  to  do  good, 
the  latter  to  do  ill. 

AUDIENTES,  an  order  of 
catechumens  in  the  primitive  chris- 
tian church.  They  were  so  called 
from  their  being  admitted  to  hear 
sermons  and  the  scriptures  read  in 
the  church  ;  but  they  were  not  al- 
lowed to  be  present  at  the  prayers. 

AUGSBURGH,  or  Augus- 
tan, CONFESSION,  a  celebrat- 
ed confession  of  faith  drawn  up  by 
Luther  and  Melancthon  on  behalf 
of  themselves  and  other  ancient 
reformers,  and  presented  in  1550 
to  the  emperor  Charles  V,  at  the 
diet  of  Augusta,  or  Augsburgh,  in 
the  name  of  the  evangelic  body. 
This  confession  contains  twenty 
eight  chapters;,  of  which  the  great- 
est part  is  employed  in  represent- 
ing with  perspicuity  and  truth  the 
religious  opinions  of  the  Protest- 
ants, and  the  rest  in  pointing  out 
the  errors  and  abuses  that  occa- 
sioned their  separation  from  the 
church  of  Rome.  The  leading 
doctrines  of  this  confession  are, 
the  true  and  essential  divinity  of 
the  Son  of  God  ;  his  substitution, 
and  vicarious  sacrifice  ;  and  the 
necessity,  freedom,  and  efficacy  of 
Divine  grace.  A  civil  war  fol- 
lowed this  diet  that  lasted  upwards 
of  twenty  years,  but  which  only 


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56 


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spread  the  new  opinions,  instead 
of  extirpating  them. 

AUGUSTINS,  a  religious  or- 
der, who  observed  the  rule  of  St. 
Augustin,  prescribed  them  by 
pope  Alexander  IV,  in  1256. 
This  rule  was,  to  have  all  things 
in  common ;  the  rich  who  enter 
among  them  to  sell  their  posses- 
sions, and  give  them  to  the  poor ; 
to  employ  the  first  part  of  the 
morning  in  labouring  with  their 
hands,  and  the  rest  in  reading : 
when  they  go  abroad,  to  go  always 
two  in  company ;  never  to  eat  but 
in  their  monastery,  &c. 

AUSTERITY,  a  state  of  rigid 


mortification.  It  is  distinguished 
from  severity  and  rigour  thus. 
Austerity  relates  to  the  mannerof 
living ;  severity  to  the  manner  of 
thinking ;  rigour  to  the  manner  of 
punishing.  To  austerity  is  oppos- 
ed eifeminacy ;  to  severity,  relax- 
ation ;  to  rigour,  clemency.  A 
hermit  is  austere  in  his  life  ;  a 
casuist  severe  in  his  application  of 
religion  or  law  ;  a  judge  rigorous 
in  his  sentences. 

AUTOCEPHALI  BISHOPS. 
This  denomination  was  given  to 
such  bishops  in  the  primitive 
church  as  were  exempted  from 
the  jurisdiction  of  others. 


B. 


BACKBITING.  Se  Detrac- 
tion and  Slander. 

BACKSLIDING,  the  act  of 
turning  from  the  path  of  duty.  It 
may  be  considered  as  partial  when 
applied  to  true  believers,  who  do 
not  backslide  with  the  whole  bent 
of  their  will ;  as  voluntary^  when 
applied  to  those  who,  after  pro- 
fessing to  know  the  truth,  wilfully 
turn  from  it,  and  live  in  the  prac- 
tice of  sin ;  as^;zr//,  when  the  mind 
is  given  up  to  judicial  hardness, 
as  in  the  case  of  Judas.  Partial 
backsliding'  must  be  distinguished 
from  hypocrisy^  as  the  former  may 
exist  where  there  are  gracious  in- 
tentions on  the  whole ;  but  the 
latter  is  a  studied  profession  of  ap- 
pearing to  be  what  v/e  are  not. 

The  causes  of  backsliding  are — 
the  cares  of  the  world  ;  improper 
connections  ;  inattention  to  secret 
or  closet  duties  ;  self-conceit  and 
dependance  ;  indolence  ;  listening 


to  and  parleying  with  temptations. 
A  backsliding  state  is  manifested 
by  indifference  to  prayer  and  self- 
examination  ;  trifling  or  unprofit- 
able conversation  ;  neglect  of  pub- 
lic ordinances  ;  shunning  the  peo- 
ple of  God  ;  associating  with  the 
world ;  thinking  lightly  of  sin ; 
neglect  of  the  Bible  ;  and  often  by 
gross  immorality.  The  consequen- 
ces of  this  awful  state  are — loss  of 
character  ;  loss  oi  comfort ;  loss  of 
usefulness  ;  and,  as  long  as  any  re- 
main in  this  state,  a  loss  of  a  -well- 
groundedhope  of  future  happiness. 
To  avoid  this  state^  or  recover 
from  it,  we  should  beware  of  the 
first  appearance  of  sin  ;  be  much 
in  prayer  ;  attend  the  ordinances  ; 
and  unite  with  the  people  of  God. 
We  should  consider  the  awful  in- 
stances of  apostacy,as  Saul,  Judas, 
Demas,  &c. ;  the  many  warnings 
Vi^e  have  of  it.  Matt,  xxiv,  13. 
Heb.  x,  38-    Luke  ix,  62  ;  how.it 


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57 


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grieves  the  Holy  Spirit ;  and  how 
wretched  it  makes  us  :  above  all 
things,  our  dependance  should  be 
on  God,  that  we  may  always  be 
directed  by  his  Spirit,  and  kept 
by  his  power.  See  Apostacy. 
BANGORIAN  CONTRO- 
VERSY, so  called  from  Bangor, 
or  the  bishop  thereof.  Bishop 
Hoadley,  the  bishop  of  that  dio- 
cese, preaching  before  George  I, 
asserted  the  supreme  authority  of 
Christ,  as  king  in  his  own  k  ingdom ; 
and  that  he  had  not  delegated  his 
power,  like  temporal  lawgivers 
during  their  absence  from  their 
Jiingdom,  to  any  persons,  as  his  vi- 
cegerents or  deputies.  In  1 71 7,  he 
also  published  his  Preservative^  in 
which  he  advanced  some  positions 
contrary  to  temporal  and  spiritual 
tyranny,  and  in  behalf  of  the  civil 
and  religious  liberties  of  mankind : 
upon  which  he  was  violently  op- 
posed, accused,  and  persecuted, 
by  the  advocates  for  church  pow- 
er :  but  he  was  defended  and  sup- 
ported by  the  civil  powers,  and 
his  abilities  and  meekness  gained 
him  the  plaudits  of  many. 

BAPTISM,  the  ceremony  of 
washing,  or  the  application  of 
water  to  a  person,  in  the  name  of 
the  Father,  the  Son,  and  the  Holy 
Ghost,^  by  which  he  is  initiated 
into  the  visible  church.  Baptism 
exhibits  to  us  the  blessings  of 
pardon,  salvation  through  Jesus, 
Christ,  union  to  and  cominunion 
with  him,  the  out-pouring  of  the 
Spirit,  regeneration,  and  sanctifi- 
cation.  From  baptism  results  the 
obligation  of  repentance,  love  to 
Christ,  and  perpetual  devotedness 
to  his  praise.  Baptism  docs  not 
constitute    a  visilTie  subject,   but 

Vol.  J.  "  I 


only  recognizes  one.  Ministers 
only  have  a  right  to  administer  it ; 
and  have  a  negative  voice  in  op- 
position to  all  claims.  It  is  an  or- 
dinance binding  on  all  who  have 
been  given  up  to  God  in  it ;  and 
to  be  perpetuated  to  the  end  of  the 
world.  It  is  not,  however,  essen- 
tial to  salvation  ;  for  mere  partici- 
pation of  sacraments  cannot  quali- 
fy men  for  heaven :  many  have 
real  grace,  consequently  in  a  sal- 
vable  state,  before  they  were  bap- 
tized :  besides,  to  suppose  it  essen- 
tial, is  to  put  it  in  the  place  of  that 
which  it  signifies. 

Baptism  has  been  supposed  by 
many  learned  persons  to  have  had 
its  origin  from  the  Jewish  church ; 
in  which,  they  maintain,  it  was 
the  practice,  long  before  Christ's 
time,  to  baptize  proselytes  or  con- 
verts to  their  faith,  as  part  of  the 
ceremony  of  their  admission.  "  It 
is  strange  to  me,  says  Dr.  Dod- 
dridge, "  that  any  should  doubt 
of  this,  when  it  is  plain,  from  ex- 
press passages  in  the  Jewish  law, 
that  no  Jew  who  had  lived  like  a 
Gentile  for  one  day  could  be  re- 
stored to  the  communion  of  this 
church  without  it.  Compare  Num. 
xix,  19  and  20,  and  many  other 
precepts  relating  to  ceremonial 
pollutions,  in  which  may  be  seen, 
that  the  Jews  were  rendered  in- 
capal^le  of  appearing  before  God 
in  the  tabernacle  or  templa,  till 
they  v/ere  washed  either  by  bathing 
or  spi'inkling."  Others,  however, 
insist,  that  the  Jewish  proselyte 
baptism  is  not  by  far  so  ancient ; 
and  that  John  the  Baptist  was  the 
first  administrator  of  baptism  a- 
mong  the  Jews. 

The  baptism  of  John,  and  that 


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of  our  Saviour  and  his  apostles, 
have  been  supposed  to  be  the 
same  ;  because  they  agree,  it  is 
said,  in  their  subjects,  form,  and 
end.  But  it  naust  be  observed,  that 
though  there  be  an  agreement  in 
some  particulars,  yet  there  is  not 
in  all.  The  immediate  in&titutor 
of  John's  baptism  vv^as  God  the 
Father,  John  i,  33  ;  but  the  im- 
mediate institutor  of  the  Chris- 
tian baptism  was  Christ,  Matt, 
xxviii,  19.  John's  baptism  was  a 
preparatory  rite,  referring  the  sub- 
jects to  Christ,  who  was  about  to 
confer  on  them  spiritual  blessings, 
Mat.  iii,  11.  John's  baptism  was 
confined  to  the  Jews ;  but  the 
christian  was  common  to  Jews 
and  Gentiles,  Matt,  iii,  5,  7.  Matt, 
xxviii,  19.  It  does  not  appear 
tha.t  John  had  any  formula  of 
administration ;  but  the  christian 
baptism  has,  viz.  "  In  the  name," 
&c.  The  baptism  of  John  %vas 
the  concluding  scene  of  the  legal 
dispensation,  and,  in  fact,  part  of 
it ;  raid  to  be  considered  as  one  of 
those  "  divers  washings"  among 
the  Jews  ;  for  he  did  not  attempt 
to  make  any  alteration  in  the  Jew- 
ish religion,  nor  did  the  persons 
he  baptized  cease  to  be  members 
of  the  Jev/ish  church  on  the  ac- 
count of  their  baptism  ;  but  chris- 
tian baptism  is  the  regular  en- 
ti-ance  into,  and  is  a  part  of,  the 
evangelical  dispensation.  Gal.  iii, 
27".  It  does  not  appear  from  the 
inspired  narrative  (however  pro- 
bable from  inferential  reasoning) 
that  any  but  John  himself  was 
engaged  as  operator  in  his  bap- 
tism; whereas  Christ  himself  bap- 
tized none  ;  but  his  disciples,  by 
his  authority,  and  in  his  name, 
Jcihn  iv,  2. 


Baptism  has  been  the  subject 
of  long  and  sharp  controversy, 
both  as  it  respects  the  subject  and 
the  mode.  To  state  all  that  has 
been  said  on  both  sides,  would  be 
impossible  in  a  work  of  this  kind. 
An  abstract,  however,  of  the  chief 
arguments  I  think  it  my  duty  to 
present  to  the  reader,  in  order 
that  he  may  judge  for  himself. 

As  to  the  subject. 

The  ANTIP^DOBAPTISTS 

hold  that  believing  adults  only  are 
proper  subjects,  because  Christ's 
commission  to  baptize  appears  to 
them  to  restrict  this  ordinance  to 
such  only  as  are  taught,  or  made 
disciples  ;  and  that,  consequently, 
infants,  who  cannot  be  thus  taught, 
are  to  be  excluded.  It  does  not 
appear,  say  they,  that  the  apostles, 
in  executing  Christ's  commission, 
ever  baptized  any  but  those  who 
were  first  instructed  in  the  chris* 
tian  faith,  and  professed  their  be- 
lief of  it.  They  contend  that  in- 
fants can  receive  no  benefit  from 
it,  and  are  not  capable  of  faith  and 
repentance,  which  are  to  be  con- 
sidered as  pre-requisites. 

As  to  the  mode. 

They  observe  that  the  meaning 

of  the  word  Bacnrhl^u  signifies  im-*- 

mersion    or   dipping    only  ;    that 

John  baptized  in  Jordan  ;  that  he 

i  chose    a  place  v.'here   there  was 

^  rnueh  water ;  that  Jesus  came  up 

I  out  of  the  water  ;   that  Philip  and 

I  the  Eunuch  went  down  both  into 

the  water.  That  the  terms  washing, 

purifying,  burying  in  baptism,  so 

often  mentioned  in  scripture,  allude 

to  this  mode  ;  tKat  immersion  only 

was  the  practice  of  the  apostles 


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and  the  first  christians ;  and  that 
it  was  only  laid  aside  from  the 
love  of  novelty,  and  the  coldness 
of  our  climate.  These  positions, 
they  think,  are  so  clear  from  scrip- 
ture, and  the  history  of  the 
church,  that  they  stand  in  need 
of  but  little  argument  to  support 
them.  Farther,  they  also  insist 
that  all  positive  institutions  de- 
pend entii-ely  upon  the  will  and 
declaration  of  the  institutor,  and 
that,  therefore,  reasoning  by  ana- 
logy, from  previous  abrogated 
rites,-  is  to  be  rejected,  and  the 
express  command  of  Christ  res- 
pecting baptism  ought  to  be  our 
rule. 

PiEDOBAPTISTS. 
The  Paedobaptists,  however,  are 
of  a  different  opinion.  As  to  the 
subject,  they  believe  that  qualified 
ndults  who  have  not  been  baptized 
before  are  certainly  proper  sub- 
jects ;  but,  then,  they  think  also 
that  infants  are  not  to  be  exclud- 
ed. They  believe  that,  as  the 
Abrahamic  and  the  christian  co- 
venants ar«  the  same.  Gen.  xvii,  7» 
Heb.  viii,  12;  that  as  children 
were  admitted  under  the  former  ; 
and  that  as  baptism  is  now  a 
seal,  sign,  or  confirmation  of  this 
covenant,  infants  have  as  great 
'  a  right  to  it  as  the  children  had 
a  right  to  the  seal  of  circumcision 
under  the  law,  Acts  ii,  39.  Rom. 
iv,  11.  That  if  children  are  not 
to  be  baptized  because  there  is 
no  positive  command  for  it,  for 
the  same  reason  women  should 
not  come  to  the  Loi-d's  supper ; 
we  should  not  keep  the  first  day 
of  the  week,  nor  attend  public 
worship,  for  none  of  these  are 
expressly    commanded ;    that    if 


infant  baptism  had  been  a  human 
invention,  how  would  it  have 
been  so  universal  in  the  first  300 
years,  and  yet  no  record  left 
when  it  was  introduced,  nor  any 
dispute  or  controversy  about  it? 
Some  bring  it  to  these  two  ideas  : 
— 1.  That  God  did  constitute  in 
his  church  the  membership  of  in- 
fants, and  admitted  them  to  it 
by   a   religious   ordinance.    Gen. 

xvii.  Gal.  iii,  14,  17 2.     That 

this  right  of  infants  to  church 
membei-ship  was  never  taken  away. 
This  being  the  case,' infants  must 
be  received,  because  God  has  in- 
stituted it ;  and,  since  infants 
must  be  received,  it  must  be  either 
without  baptism  or  with  it ;  but 
none  must  be  received  without 
baptism,  therefore  infants  must  of 
necessity  be  baptized.  Hence  it 
is  clear,  that,  under  the  gospel,  in- 
fants are  still  continued  exactly  in 
the  same  relation  to  God  and  his 
church,  in  which  they  were  origi- 
nally placed  under  the  former  dis- 
pensation. 

That  infants  are  to  be  received 
into  the  church,  and  as  such  bap- 
tized, is  also  inferred  from  the  fol- 
lowing passages  of  scripture  : — 
Gen.  xvii.  Is.  xliv,  3.  Matt,  xix,  13. 
Luke  ix,  47,  48.  Mark  ix,  14. 
Acts  ii,  38,  39.  Rom.  xi,  17,  21. 
1st  Cor.  vii,  14. 

Though  there  are  no  express 
examples  in  the  New  Testament  of 
Christ  and  his  apostles  baptizing 
infants,  yet  this  is  no  proof  that 
they  were  excluded.  Jesus  Christ 
actually  blessed  little  children ; 
and  it  would  be  hard  to  believe 
that  s»ch  rece,ived^his  blessing, 
and  yet  were  not  to  be  members 
of  the  gospel  church^     If  Christ 


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60 


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received  them,  and  would  have 
us  receive  them  in  his  name,  how 
can  it  be  reconciled  to  keep  them 
out  of  the  visible  church?  Be- 
sides, if  children  were  not  to  be 
baptized,  it  v/ould  have  been  ex- 
pressly forbidden.  None  of  the 
Jews  had  any  apprehension  of  the 
rejection  of  infants,  which  they 
must  have  had,  if  infants  had  been 
rejected.  As  whole  households 
were  baptized,  it  is  probable  there 
were  children  among  them.  From 
the  year  400  to  1 1 50,  no  society 
of  men,  in  all  that  period  of  750 
years,  ever  pretended  to  say  it  was 
imlawful  to  baptize  infants  ;  and 
still  nearer  the  time  of  our  Saviour 
there  appears  to  have  been  scarce- 
ly any  one  that  so  much  as  ad- 
vised the  delay  of  infant  baptism. 
Irenseus,  who  lived  in  the  second 
century,  and  was  well  acquainted 
with  Polycarp,  who  was  John's 
disciple,  declares  expressly  that 
the  church  learned  from  the  apos- 
tles to  baptize  children.  Origen, 
in  the  third  century,  affirmed  that 
the  custom  of  baptizing  infants 
was  received  from  Christ  and  his 
apostles.  Cyprian,  and  a  coun- 
cil of  ministers  (held  about  the 
vear  254),  no  less  than  sixt}'-six  in 
number,  unanimously  agreed  that 
children  might  be  baptized  as 
soon  as  they  were  born.  Am- 
brose, who  wrote  about  274  years 
from  the  apostles,  declares  that 
the  baptism  of  infants  had  been 
the  practice  of  the  apostles  them- 
selves, and  of  the  church,  till  that 
time.  The  catholic  church  every 
where  declared,  says  Chrj^sostom, 
in  the  fifth  century,  that  infants 
should  be  baptized  ;  and  Augus- 
tin  affirmed  that  he  never  heard 


or  read  of  any  christian,  catho- 
lic, or  sectarian,  but  who  always 
held  that  infants  were  to  be  bap- 
tized. They  farther  believe,  that 
there  needed  no  mention  in  the 
New  Testament  of  receiving  in- 
fants into  the  church,  as  it  had 
been  once  appointed,  and  never 
repealed.  The  dictates  of  Nature, 
also,  in  parental  feelings  ;  the  ver- 
dict of  reason  in  favour  of  privi- 
leges ;  the  evidence  in  favour  of 
children  being  sharers  of  the  seals 
of  grace,  in  common  with  their 
parents,  for  the  space  of  4000 
years ;  and  especially  the  lan- 
guage of  prophec}-,  in  reference 
to  the  children  of  the  gospel 
church,  make  it  very  probable 
that  they  were  not  to  be  rejected. 
So  far  from  confining  it  to  adults, 
it  must  be  remembered  that  there 
is  not  a  single  instance  recorded  in 
the  New  Testament  in  which  the 
descendants  of  christian  parents 
were  baptized  in  adult  years. 

That  infants  are  not  proper 
subjects  for  baptism,  because  they 
cannot  profess  faith  and  repent- 
ance, they  deny.  This  objection 
falls  with  as  much  weight  upon 
the  institution  of  circumcision  as 
infant  baptism  ;  since  they  are  as 
capable  or  are  as  fit  subjects  for 
the  one  as  the  other.  It  is  gene- 
rally acknowledged,  that,  if  in- 
fants die  (and  a  great  part  of  the 
human  race  do  die  in  infancy), 
they  are  saved :  if  this  be  the  case, 
then,  Avhy  refuse  them  the  sign  in 
infancy,  if  they  are  capable  of 
enjoying  the  thing  signified  ? — 
"  Why,"  says  Dr.  Owen,  "  is  it 
the  will  of  God  that  unbelievers 
should  not  be  baptized  ?  It  is  be- 
cause, not  granting  them  the  grace, 


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61 


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he  will  not  grant  them  the  sign. 
If  God,  therefore,  denies  the  sign 
to  tlie  infant  seed  of  beliex^ers,  it 
must  be  because  he  denies  them 
the  grace  of  it ;  and  then  all  the 
children  of  believing  parer^ts  (up- 
on these  principles)  dying  in  their 
infancy,  must,  without  hope,  be 
eternally  damned.  I  do  not  say 
that  all  must  be  so  who  are  not 
baptized ;  but  all  must  be  so  whom 
God  would  not  have  baptized." 
Something  is  said  of  baptism,  it  is 
observed,  that  cannot  agree  to  in- 
fants :  faith  goes  before  baptism  ; 
and,  as  none  but  adults  are  capa- 
ble of  believing,  so  no  others  are 
capable  of  baptism  ;  but  it  is  re- 
plied, if  infants  must  not  be  bap- 
tized because  something  is  said  of 
baptism  that  does  not  agree  to  in- 
fants, Mark  xvi,  16,  then  infants 
must  not  be  saved,  because  some- 
thing is  gaid  of  salvation  which 
does  not  agree  to  infants,  Mark 
xvi,  16.  As  none  but  adults  are 
capable  of  believing,  so,  by  the  ar- 
gument of  the  Baptists,  none  but 
adults  are  capable  of  salvation  : 
for  he  that  believeth  not  shall  be 
damned.  But  Christ,  it  is  said, 
set  an  example  of  adult  baptism. 
True ;  but  he  was  baptized  in  ho- 
nour to  John's  ministry;  and  to 
conform  himself  to  what  he  ap- 
pointed to  his  followers ;  for  which 
last  reason  he  drank  of  the  sacra- 
mental cop  :  but  this  is  rather  an 
argument  for  the  Paedobaptists 
than  against  them ;  since  it  plainly 
shews,  as  Doddridge  observes,  that 
baptism  may  be  administered  to 
those  who  are  not  capable  of  all 
the  purposes  for  which  it  was  de- 
signed ;  since  Jesus  Christ,  not 
being  a  sinner,  could  not  be  ca- 


pable of  that  faith  and  repentance 
which  are  said  to  be  necessary  to 
this  ordinance. 

As  to  the  mode. 
They  believe  that  the  woi'd 
Bocniluj  signifies  to  dip  or  to  plunge ; 
but  that  the  term  Bacrfh^x^  v/hich 
is  only  a  derivative  of  Ba-n^w,  and 
consequently  must  be  somewhat 
less  in  its  signification,  should  be 
invariabl}'  used  in  the  New  Tes- 
tament to  express  plunging,  is  not 
so  clear.  It  is  therefore  doubted 
whether  dipping  be  the  only  mean- 
ing, and  whether  Christ  absolutely 
enjoined  immersion,  and  that  it 
is  his  positive  will  that  no  other 
should  be  used.  As  the  word 
^x'n\t?u}  is  used  for  the  various  ab- 
lutions among  ihe  Jews,  such  as 
sprinkling,  pourmg,/8ic.  Heb.  ix, 
10  ;  for  the  custom  of  washing  be- 
fore meals,  and  the  washing  of 
household  furniiure,  pols,  &:c. ;  it 
is  evident  from  hence  that  it  does 
not  express  the  manner  of  doing, 
whether  by  immersion  or  affusion, 
but  only  the  thing  done  ;  that 
is,  washing,  or  the  application 
of  water  in  some  form  or  other. 
Dr.  Owen  observes,  that  it  no 
where  signifies  to  dip^  but  as 
denoting  a  mode  of  and  in  order 
to  washing  or  cleansing ;  and,  ac- 
cording to  others,  the  mode  of  use 
is  only  the  ceremonial  part  of  a 
positive  institute ;  just  as  in  the 
supper  of  the  Lord — the  time  of 
day,  the  number  and  posture  of 
communicants,  the  quality  and 
quantity  of  bread  and  wine,  are 
circumstances  not  accounted  es- 
sential by  any  party  of  Christians. 
As  to  the  Hebrew  word  Tabal^  it 
is  considered  as  a  g-eneric  term  ; 
that    its    radical,    primary,    and 


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62 


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proper  meaning  is,  to  tinge,  to 
dye,  to  wet,  or  the  like  ;  which 
primary  design  is  effected  by  dif- 
ferent modes  of  application.  If 
in  baptism  also  there  is  an  ex- 
pressive emblem  of  the  descend- 
ing influence  of  the  Spirit,  pouring 
must  be  the  mode  of  administra- 
tion J  for  that  is  the  scriptural 
term  most  commonly  and  proper- 
ly used  for  the  communication  of 
divine  influences.  There  is  no 
object  whatever  in  all  the  New 
Testament  so  frequently  and  so 
explicitly  signified  by  baptism  as 
these  divine  influences.  Matt, 
iii,  11.  Mark  i,  8,  10.  Luke 
iii,  16  to  22.  John  i,  33.  Acts 
i,  5.   Acts   ii,  38,  39.  Acts  viii, 

12,  17.    Acts   xi,  15,    16 The 

term  sprinkling,  also,  is  made  use 
of  in  reference  to  the  act  of  purify- 
ing, Is.  Iii,  15.  Heb.  ix.  13.  14. 
Ezek.  xxxvi,25,  and  therefore  can- 
not be  inapplicable  to  baptismal 
purification.  But  it  is  observed 
that  John  baptized  ifi  Jordan  :  to 
this  it  is  replied,  to  infer  always 
a  plunging  of  the  whole  body  in 
water  from  this  word,  would,  in 
many  instances,  be  false  and  ab- 
surd: the  same  Greek  preposition 
«v  is  used  when  it  is  said  they 
should  be  baptized  with  fire ; 
which  few  will  assert  that  they 
should  be  plunged  into  it.  The 
apostle,  speaking  of  Christ,  says, 
he  came  not  (sv)  bv  water  only,  but 
(£")  by  water  and  blood.  There 
the  same  word  £»  is  translated  hy^ 
and  with  justice  and  propriety,  for 
we  know  no  good  sense  in  which 
we  could  say  he  came  in  water. 
It  has  been  remarked,  that  fv  is 
more  than  a  hundred  times,  in  the 
New  Testament,  rendered  "  c?;" 


and  in  a  hundred  and  fifty  others 
it  is  translated  -with.  If  it  be  ren- 
dered so  here,  "  John  baptized  at 
Jordan,"  or  with  the  water  of  Jor- 
dan, there  is  no  proof  from  thence 
that  \ie.  plunged  his  disciples  in  it. 

It  is  urged  that  John's  choosing 
a  place  were  there  was  much  wa- 
ter is  a  certain  proof  of  immer- 
sion. To  which  it  is  answered, 
that  as  there  went  out  to  him 
Jerusalem,  and  all  Judea,  and  all 
the  region  round  about  Jordan, 
that  by  choosing  a  place  wherfc 
there  were  many  streams  or  rivu- 
lets, it  would  be  much  more  ex- 
peditiously performed  by  pouring; 
and  that  it  seems  in  the.  nature  of 
things  highly  improbable  that 
John  should  have  baptized  this 
vast  multitude  by  immersion  ;  to 
say  nothing  of  the  indecency  of 
both  sexes  being  baptized  toge- 
ther. 

Jesus,  it  is  said,  came  up  out  of 
the  water;  but  this  is  sai,d  to  be  no 
proof  of  his  being  immersed,  as 
the  Greek  term  «7ro  often  signifies 
from;  for  instance,  "  Who  hath 
warned  you  to  fieey?"om,not  out  of 
the  wrath  to  come,"  with  many 
others  which  might  be  mentioned. 

Again :  it  is  said  that  Philip  and 
the  Eunuch  went  down  both  into 
the  water.  To  this  it  is  answered, 
that  here  is  no  proof  of  immersion; 
for  if  the  expression  of  their  going 
down  into  the  water  necessarily 
includes  dipping,  then  Philip  was 
dipped  as  v/ell  as  the  Eunuch.  The 
preposition  Uis)  translated  into^  of- 
ten signifies  no  more  than  to  or 
unto.  See"  Matt,  xv,  24.  Rom.  x, 
10.  Acts  xxviii,  14.  Matt,  xvii, 
27.  Matt,  iii,  11.  So  that,  from 
all  these  circumstances,  it  cannot 


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63 


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be  concluded  that  there  was  a  sin- 
gle person  of  all  the  baptized  who 
went  into  the  water  ankle  deep. 
As  to  the  apostle's  expression, 
buried  with  -him  in  baptism, 
*'  the}'  think  it  has  no  force  ;  and 
that  it  does  not  allude  to  any  cus- 
tom of  dipping,  any  more  than 
our  baptismal  crucifixion  and 
death  has  any  such  reference.  It 
is  not  the  sign  but  the  thing  signi- 
fied that  is  here  alluded  to.  As 
Christ  was  buried  and  rose  again 
to  a  heavenly  life,  so  we  by  bap- 
tism signify  that  we  are  cut  off 
from  the  life  of  sin,  that  we  may 
rise  again  to  a  new  life  of  faith  and 
love." 

To  conclude  this  article,  it  is 
obsen'^ed  against  the  mode  of  im- 
mersion, that,  as  it  carries  with  it 
too  much  of  the  appearance  of  a 
burdensome  rite  for  the  gospel  dis- 
pensation ;  that  as  it  is  too  inde- 
cent for  so  solemn  an  ordinance ; 
as  it  has  a  tendency  to  agitate  the 
spirits,  often  rendering  the  sub- 
ject unfit  for  the  exercise  of  pro- 
per thoughts  and  affections,  and 
indeed  utterly  incapable  of  them  : 
as  in  many  cases  the  immersion  of 
the  body  would  in  all  probability 
be  instant  death ;  as  in  other  si- 
tuations it  would  be  impracticable 
for  want  of  water,  it  cannot  be  con- 
sidered as  necessary  to  the  ordi- 
nance of  baptism. 

See  Gale^  Robinson^  Stennet^ 
Gill,  and  Booth,  on  Ant'ipctdohap- 
tism  ;  and  Wall,  Henry,  Bostzuick, 
Towgood,  Add'ington,  Williams, 
Edwards,  Miller,  Evans,  &c.  on 
the  other  side. 

BAPTISM  OF  THE  DEAD, 
a  custom  which  anciently  prevail- 
<;d,  among  some  people  ia  Africa, 


of  giving  baptism  to  the  dead.  The 
third  council  of  Carthage  speaks 
of  it  as  a  thing  that  ignorant  chris- 
tians were  fond  of  :  Gregory  Na- 
zianzen  also  takes  notice  of  the 
same  superstitious  opinion.  The 
practice  seems  to  be  grounded  on 
a  vain  idea,  that,  when  men  had 
neglected  to  receive  baptism  in 
their  life-time,  some  compensa- 
tion might  be  made  for  this  default 
by  receiving  it  after  death. 

BAPTISMFORTHE  DEAD, 
a  practice  formerly  in  use,  when 
a  person  dying  without  baptism, 
another  was  baptized  in  his  stead  ; 
thus  supposing  that  God  would 
accept  the  baptism  of  the  proxy, 
as  thou^  it  had  been  administer- 
ed to  the  principal.  Chrysostom 
says,  this  was  practised  among  the 
Marcionites  with  a  great  deal  of 
ridiculous  ceremony,  which  he 
thus  describes: — After  any  cate- 
chumen was  dead,  they  hid  a  liv-= 
ing  man  under  the  bed  of  the  de- 
ceased ;  then  coming  to  the  dead 
man,  they  asked  him  whether  he 
would  receive  baptism ;  and  he 
making  no  answer,  the  other  an- 
svv^ered  for  him,  and  said  he  would 
be  baptized  in  his  stead  ;  and  so 
they  baptized  the  living  for  the 
dead.  If  it  can  be  proved  (as  some 
think  it  can)  that  this  practice  was 
as  early  as  the  days  of  the  apos- 
tle Paul,  it  might  probably  form  a 
solutionof  those  remarkable  words 
in  1st  Cor.  xv,  29 — "  If  the 
dead  rise  not  at  all,  what  shall 
they  do  who  are  baptized  for  the 
dead  ?"  The  allusion  of  the  apos- 
tle to  this  practice,  however,  i» 
rejected  by  some,  and  especiajly 
by  Dr.  Doddridge,  who  thinks  it 
too  early :  he  thus  paraphrases  the 


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64 


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passage.  **  Such  are  our  viev/s 
and  hopes  as  christians ;  else^  if  it 
were  not  so,  what  should  they  do 
who  are  baptized  in  token  of  their 
embracing  the  christian  faith,  in 
ths  room  of  the  dead^  who  are 
just  fallen  in  the  cause  of  Christ, 
but  are  yet  supported  by  a  succes- 
sion of  new  converts,  who  imme- 
diately offer  themselves  to  fill  up 
their  places,  as  ranks  of  soldiers 
that  advance  to  the  combat  in  the 
room  of  their  companions  who 
have  just  been  slain  in  their 
&ight  r" 

Lay  baptism  we  find  to  have 
been  permitted  by  both  the  com- 
mon prayer  books  of  king  Edward 
and  queen  Elizabeth,  when  an  in- 
fant was  in  immediate  danger  of 
death,  and  a  lawful  minister  could 
not  be  had.  This  was  founded 
on  a  mistaken  notion  of  the  impos- 
sibility of  salvation  without  the  sa- 
crament of  baptism ;  but  after- 
wards, when  they  came  to  have 
clearer  notions  of  the  sacraments, 
it  was  unanimously  resolved,  in 
a  convocation  held  in  1575,  that 
even  private  baptism  in  a  case  of 
necessity  was  only  to  be  adminis- 
tered by  a  lavi'ful  minister. 

BAPTISTS,  a  denomination 
of  christians  who  maintain  that 
baptism  is  to  be  administered  by 
immersion,  and  not  by  sprinkling. 
See  Baptism. 

Although  there  were  sevei-al 
Baptists  among  the  Albigenses, 
Waldenses,  and  the  followers  of 
Wicklifie,  it  does  not  appear  that 
thev  were  formed  into  any  stabi- 
lity until  the  time  of  Menno,  about 
the  year  1536.  See  Anabap- 
tists and  Mennonites.  About 
1644.  they  began  to  make  a  con- 


siderable figure  in  England,  and 
spread  themselves  into  several 
separate  congregations.  They  se- 
parated from  the  Independents 
about  the  year  1638,  and  set  up 
for  themselves  under  the  pastoral 
care  of  Mr.  Jesse  ;  and,  having  re- 
nounced their  former  baptism, 
they  sent  over  one  of  their  num- 
ber to  be  immersed  by  one  of  the 
Dutch  Anabaptists  of  Amster- 
dam, that  he  might  be  qualified 
to  baptize  his  friends  in  England 
after  the  same  manner. 

The  Baptists  subsist  under  two 
denominations,  viz.  the  particu- 
lar or  Calvinistical^  and  the  ge- 
neral or  Artninian.  Their  modes 
of  church  government  and  wor- 
ship are  the  same  as  the  inde- 
pendents; in  the  exercise  of 
which  they  are  protected,  in  com- 
mon with  other  dissenters,  by 
the  act  of  toleration.  Some  of 
both  denominations  allow  of  mix- 
ed communion ;  by  which  it  is 
understood  that  those  who  have 
not  been  baptized  by  immersion, 
on  the  profession  of  their  faith, 
may  sit  down  at  the  Lord's  table 
with  those  who  have  been  thus 
baptized.  Others,  however,  dis- 
allow it,  supposing  that  such 
have  not  been  actually  baptized 
at  all.     See   Free   Communion. 

Some  of  them  observe  the  se- 
venth day  of  the  week  as  the  Sab- 
bath, apprehending  the  law  that 
enjoined  it  not  to  have  been  re- 
pealed bv  Christ. 

Some  of  the  general  Baptists 
have,  it  is  said,  gone  into  Socini- 
anism  or  Arianism  ;  on  account  of 
which  several  of  their  ministers 
and  churches  who  disapprove  of 
these  principles  have  within   tht 


BAP 


65 


BAR 


last  forty  years  formed  themselves 
into  a  distinct  connexion  called 
the  New  Association.  The  church- 
es in  this  union  keep  up  a  friend- 
ly acquaintance  in  some  outward 
things  with  those  from  whom 
they  have  separated  ;  but  in  things 
more  essential  disclaim  any  con- 
nexion with  them,  particularly  as 
to  changing  ministers,  and  the  ad- 
mission of  members.  The  general 
Baptists  have,  in  some  of  their 
churches,  three  distinct  orders  se- 
parately ordained,  viz. — messen- 
gers, elders,  and  deacons.  Their 
general  assembly  is  held  annually 
in  Worship  Street,  London,  on 
the  Tuesday  in  the  Whitsun  week. 
The  Baptists  have  two  exhibi- 
tions for  students  to  be  educafed 
at  one  of  the  universities  of  Scot- 
land, given  them  by  Dr.  Ward, 
of  Gresham  College.  There  is 
likewise  an  academy  at  Bristol  for 
students,  generally  known  by  the 
name  of  the  Bristol  Education  So- 
ciety. The  Baptists  in  America 
and  in  the  East  and  West  Indies 
are  chiefly  Calvinists,  and  hold 
occasional  fellowship  with  the  par- 
ticular Baptist  churches  in  Eng- 
land. Those  in  Scotland  having 
imbibed  a  considerable  part  of  the 
principles  of  Messrs.  Glass  and 
Sandeman,  have  no  communion 
with  the  other.  They  have  liberal- 
ly contributed,  however,  towards 
the  translation  of  the  scripture  into 
the  Bengalee  language,  which 
some  of  the  Baptist  brethren  are 
now  accomplishing  in  the  East. 
See  R'lpponHs  Baptist  Register, 
vol.  i,  p.  772'1 75 ;  Adams's  View  of\ 
Religions^  article  Baptists  ;  Evanses 
Sketch  of  Religious  Deyiomiiiations. 
BAPTISTERY,  the  place  in 
Vol..  I.  K 


which  the  ceremony  of  baptism  is 
performed.  In  the  ancient  church, 
it  is  said,  it  was  generally  a  build- 
ing separate  and  distinct  from  the 
church.  It  consisted  of  an  ante- 
room, where  the  adult  persons  to 
be  baptized  made  their  confession 
of  faith ;  and  an  inner  room, 
where  the  ceremony  of  baptism 
was  performed.  Thus  it  conti- 
nued to  the  sixth  century,  when 
the  baptisteries  began  to  be  taken 
into  the  church. 

BARDESANISTS,  a  sect  so 
denominated  from  their  leader 
Bardesanes,  a  Syrian,  of  Edessa, 
in  Mesopotamia,  who  lived  in  the 
second  century.  They  believed 
that  the  actions  of  men  depended 
altogether  on  fate,  and  that  God 
himself  is  subject  to  necessity. — 
They  denied  the  resurrection  of 
the  body,  and  the  incarnation  and 
death  of  our  Saviour. 

BARL AAMITES,  the  follow- 
ers of  Barlaam,  in  the  fourteenth 
century,  who  was  a  very  zealous 
champion  in  behalf  of  the  Greek 
against  the  Latin  church.  It  is 
said  that  he  adopted  the  senti- 
ments and  precepts  of  the  stoics, 
with  respect  to  the  obligations  of 
morality  and  the  duties  of  life  ; 
and  digested  them  into  a  work  of 
his,  which  is  known  by  the  title 
of  Ethica  ex  Stoicis. 
BARNABAS,EPISTLES  OF, 
an  apocr}'phal  work  ascribed  to  St. 
Barnabas.  It  was  first  published 
in  Greek,  from  a  copy  of  father 
Hugh  Menaed,  a  monk.  Vossias 
published  it,  in  1656,  witK  the 
epistles  of  Ignatius. — Barnabas's 
gospel  is  another  apocryphal  work 
ascribed  to  Barnabas,  wherein  the 
history  of  Jesus  Christ  is  given  in 


B  AS 


66 


B  AS 


a  different  manner  from  that  of  the 
evangelist. 

BARTHOLOMITES,  a  reli- 
gious order  founded  at  Geneva  in 
1307  ;  but,  the  monks  leading  ii-re- 
gular  lives,  it  was  suppressed  in 
1650,  and  their  effects  confiscated. 
In  the  church  of  the  monastery  of 
this  order  at  Geneva  is  preserved 
the  image,  v/hich,  it  is  pretended, 
Christ  sent  to  king  Abgarus. 

EASILIAN  MONKS,  religi- 
ous, of  the  order  of  St.  Basil,  in 
the  fourth  centur}',  who,  having 
retired  into  a  desert  in  the  province 
of  Pontus,  founded  a  monastery, 
and  drew  up  rules,  to  the  amount 
of  some  hundreds,  for  his  dis- 
ciples. This  new  society  soon 
spread  all  over  the  East ;  nor  was 
"it  long  before  it  passed  into  the 
West.  Some  pretend  that  St.  Basil 
saw  himself  the  spiritual  father  of 
more  than  90,000  monks  in  the 
East  only  ;  but  this  order,  Avhich 
flourished  for  more  than  three  cen- 
turies, was  considerably  diminish- 
ed by  heresy,  schism,  and  a  change 
of  empire.  The  historians  of  this 
order  say  that  it  has  produced 
14  popes,  1805  bishops,  3010 
abbots,  and  11,085  martyrs,  be- 
sides an  infinite  number  of  con- 
fessors and  virgins.  This  order 
likewise  boasts  of  several  em- 
perors, kings,  and  princes,  who 
have  embraced  its  rule. 

BASILIDIANS,  a  denomina- 
tion,in  the  second  century , from  Ba- 
silides,  chief  of  the  Egyptian  Gnos- 
tics. He  acknowledged  the  ex- 
istence of  one  Supreme  God,  per- 
fect in  goodness  and"  wisdom,  who 
produced  from  his  own  substance 
seven  beings,  or  aio?i.<!^  of  a  most 
excellent  nature.     Two  of  these 


aw7is,  called  D3^namis  and  Sophij^ 
(i.  e.  power  and  ivisdoni)^  engen- 
dered the  angels  of  the  highest  or- 
der. These  angels  formed  a  heaven 
for  their  habitation,  and  brought 
forth  other  angelic  beings  of  a  na- 
ture somewhat  inferior  to  their 
own.  Many  other  generations  of 
angels  followed  these.  New  hea- 
vens were  also  created,  until  the 
number  of  angelic  orders,  and  of 
their  respective  heavens,  amoimt- 
ed  to  three  hundred  and  sixty- five, 
and  thus  equalled  the  days  of  the 
year.  All  these  are  under  the  em- 
pire of  an  omnipotent  Lord,  whom 
Basilides  called  Abraxas. 

The  inhabitants  of  the  lowest 
heavens,  which  touched  upon  the 
borders  of  the  eternal,  malignant, 
and  self- animated  matter,  conceiv- 
ed the  design  of  forming  a  world 
from  that  confused  mass,  and  of 
creating  an  order  of  beings  to  peo- 
ple it.  This  design  was  carried 
into  execution,  and  was  approved 
by  the  Supreme  God,  who  to  the 
animal  life,  with  which  only  the 
inhabitants  of  this  new  world  were 
at  first  endowed,  added  a  reason- 
able soul,  giving  at  the  same  time 
to  the  angels  the  empire  over 
them. 

These  angelic  beings,  advanced 
to  the  government  of  the  w^orld 
which  they  had  created,  fell  by 
degrees  from  their  original  purity, 
and  soon  manifested  the  fatal 
marks  of  their  depravity  and  cor- 
ruption. They  not  only  endea- 
voured to  efface  in  the  minds  of 
men  their  knowledge  of  the  Su- 
preme Being,  that  they  might  be 
worshipped  in  his  stead,  but  also 
began  to  war  against  each  other, 
with  an  ambitious- view  to  enlarge 


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67 


B  AX 


every  one  the  bounds  of  his  re- 
spective dominion.  The  most  ar- 
rogant and  turbulent  of  all  these 
angelic  spirits  was  that  which  pre- 
sided over  the  Jewish  nation. — 
Hence  the  Supreme  God,  behold- 
ing with  compassion  the  miserable 
state  of  rational  beings,  who  groan- 
ed under  the  contest  of  these  jar- 
ring powers,  sent  from  heaven  his 
son  Nus^  or  Christ,  the  chief  of 
the  flio;?*,  that,  joined  in  a  substan- 
tial union  with  the  man  Jesus,  he 
might  restoi-e  the  knowledge  of 
the  Supreme  God,  destroy  the 
empire  of  those  angelic  natures 
which  presided  over  the  world, 
and  particularly  that  of  the  arro- 
gant leader  of  the  Jewish  people. 
The  God  of  the  Jews,  alarmed  at 
this,  sent  forth  his  ministers  to 
seize  the  man  Jesus,  and  put  him 
to  death.  They  executed  his 
commands :  but  their  cruelty  could 
not  extend  to  Christ,  against  whom 
their  efforts  were  vain.  Those 
souls  who  obey  the  precepts  of 
the  Son  of  God,  shall,  after  the 
dissolution  of  their  moi'tal  frame, 
ascend  to  the  Father,  while  their 
bodies  return  to  the  corrupt  mass 
of  matter  whence  they  were  form- 
ed. Disobedient  spirits,  on  the 
contrary,  shall  pass  successively 
into  other  bodies. 

B  ATH-KOL  (i.  e.  the  daughter 
of  a  voice),  an  oracle  among  the 
'Jews,  frequently  mentioned  in 
their  books,  especially  the  Tal- 
mud. It  was  a  fantastical  way  of 
divination  invented  by  the  Jews, 
though  called  by  ^em  a  revela- 
tion from  God's  will,  which  he 
made  to  his  chosen  people  after 
all  verbal  prophecies  had  ceased 
in  Israel. 


BAXTERIANS,  so  called 
from  the  learned  and  pious  Mr. 
Richard  Baxter,  who  was  born  in 
the  year  1615.  His  design  was  to 
reconcile  Calvin  and  Arminius;  for 
this  purpose  he  formed  a  middle 
scheme  between  their  sjstems. 
He  taught  that  God  had  elected 
some,  whom  he  is  determined  to 
save,  without  any  foresight  of  their 
good  works ;  and  that  others  to 
whom  the  gospel  is  preached  have 
common  grace,  which  if  they  im- 
prove, they  shall  obtain  saving 
grace,  according  to  the  doctrine  of 
Arminius.Tliis  denomination  own, 
with  Calvin,  that  the  merits  of 
Christ's  death  are  to  be  applied  to 
believers  only ;  but  they  also  as- 
sert that  all  men  are  in  a  state 
capable  of  salvation. 

Mr.  Baxter  maintains  that  there 
may  be  a  certainty  of  persever- 
ance here,  and  yet  he  cannot  tell 
whether  a  man  may  not  have  so 
weak  a  degree  of  saving  grace  as 
to  lose  it  again. 

In  order  to  prove  that  the  death 
of  Christ  has  put  all  in  a  state  ca- 
pable of  salvation,  the  following 
arguments  are  alleged  by  this 
learned  author.  1,  It  was  the  na- 
ture of  all  mankind  which  Christ 
assumed  at  his  incarnation,  and 
the  sins  of  all  mankind  were  the 
occasion  of  his  suffering. — 2.  It 
was  to  Adam,  as  the  common  fa- 
ther of  lapsed  mankind,  that  God 
made  the- promise  (Gen.  iii,  15). 
The  conditional  new  covenant  does 
equally  give  Christ,  pardon,  and 
life,  to  all  mankind,  on  condition 
of  acceptance.  The  conditional 
grant  is  universal :  IVhosoever  he- 
lievtth  shall  be  saved. — 3.  It  is  not 
to  the  ekct  only,  but  to  all  man- 


BAX 


68 


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kind,  that  Christ  has  commanded 
his  ministers  to  proclaim  his  gos- 
pel, and  offer  the  benefits  of  his 
procuring. 

There  are,  Mr.  Baxter  allows, 
certain  fruits  of  Christ's  death 
which  are  proper  to  the  elect  on- 
ly: 1.  Grace  eventually  worketh 
in  them  true  faith,  repentance, 
conversion,  and  union  with  Christ, 
as  his  living  members. — 2.  The 
actual  forgiveness  of  sin  as  to  the 
spiritual  and  eternal  punishment. 
— 3.  Our  reconciliation  with  God, 
and  adoption  and  right  to  the  hea- 
venly inheritance. — 4.  The  spirit 
of  Christ  to  dwell  in  us,  ^d  sanc- 
tify us,  by  a  habit  of  divine  love, 
Rom.  viii,  9-13.  Gal.  v,  6 — 5. 
Employment  in  holy,  acceptable 
service,  and  access  in  prayer,  with 
a  promise  of  being  heard  through 
Christ,  Heb.  ii,  5,  6.  John  xiv, 
13. — 6.  Well  grounded  hopes  of 
salvation,  peace  of  conscience,  and 
spiritual  communion  with  the 
church  mystical  in  heaven  and 
earth,  Rom.  v,  12.  Heb.  xii,  22. 
— 7.  A  special  interest  in  Christ, 
and  intercession  with  the  Father, 
Rom.  viii,  32,  33. — 8.  Resurrec- 
tion unto  life,  and  justification  in 
judgment ;  glorification  of  the  soul 
at  death,  and  of  the  body  at  the 
resurrection,  Phil,  iii,  20,  21.  2d 
Cor.  v,  1,  2,  3. 

Christ  has  made  a  conditional 
deed  of  gift  of  these  benefits  to  all 
mankind;  but  the  elect  only  ac- 
cept and  possess  them.  Hence  he 
infers,  that  though  Christ  never 
absolutely  intended  or  decreed 
that  his  death  should  -eventuariy 
put  all  men  in  possession  of  those 
benefits,  yet  he  did  intend  and  de- 
cree that  all  men  should  have  a 


conditional  gift  of  them  by  his 
death. 

Baxter,  it  is  said,  wrote  120 
books,  and  had  60  written  against 
him.  20,000  of  his  Call  to  the 
Unconverted  were  sold  in  one 
year.  He  told  a  friend,  thgt  six 
brothers  were  converted  by  read- 
ing that  Call.  The  eminent  Mr. 
Elliott,  of  New  England,  translat- 
ed this  tract  into  the  Indian  tongue. 
— A  young  Indian  prince  was  so 
taken  with  it,  that  he  read  it  with 
tears,  and  died  with  it  in  his  hand. 
Calamifs  Life  of  Baxter ;  Baxter*s 
Catholic  Theology ^^.  51-53;  Bax- 
ter's End  of  Doctrinal  Controver- 
sies p.  154,  155. 

BEATIFICATION,  in  the 
Romish  church,  the  act  whereby 
the  pope  declares  a  person  happy 
after  death.    See  Canonization. 

BEATITUDE  imports  the 
highest  degree  of  happiness  human 
nature  can  arrive  to:  the  fruition 
of  God  in  a  future  life  to  all  eter- 
nity. It  is  also  used  in  speaking 
of  the  theses  contained  in  Christ's 
sermon  on  the  Mount,  whereby 
he  pronounces  the  several  charac- 
ters there  mentioned  blessed. 

BEGHARDS,  or  BeGuards, 
a  sect  that  arose  in  Germany  in 
the  thirteenth  century,  and  took 
St.  Begghe  for  their  patroness. 
They  employed  themselves  in 
making  linen  cloth,  each  support- 
ing himself  by  his  labour,  and 
were  united  only  by  the  bonds  of 
charit}%  without  having  any  par- 
ticular rule  ;  but  when  pope 
Nicholas  IV  had  confirmed  that 
of  the  third  order  of  St.  Francis 
in  1289,  they  embraced  it  the  year 
following. 
BEGUINES,  a  congregation  of 


BEH 


69 


BEH 


Tiuns  founded  either  by  St.  Beg- 
ghe  or  by  Lambert  le  Begue. 
They  were  established,  first  at 
Liege,  and  afterwards  at  Neville, 
in  1207";  and  from  this  last  set- 
tlement sprang  the  great  number 
of  Beguinages  which  are  spread 
over  all  Flanders,  and  which  have 
passed  from  Flanders  into  Ger- 
many. In  the  latter  country  some 
of  them  fell  into  extravagant  er- 
rors persuading  themselves  that 
it  was  possible  in  the  present  life 
to  arrive  to  the  highest  perfection, 
even  to  impeccabilit}'',  and  a  clear 
view  of  God  ;  in  short,  to  so  emi- 
nent a  degree  of  contemplation, 
that  there  was  no  necessity,  after 
this,  to  submit  to  the  laws  of  mor- 
tal men,  civil  or  ecclesiastical. 
The  council  of  Vienna,  in  1113, 
condemned  these  errors  ;  permit- 
ting, nevertheless,  those  among 
them  who  continued  in  the  true 
faith  to  live  in  chastity  and  peni- 
tence, either  with  or  without 
vows.  There  still  subsists,  or  at 
least  subsisted  till  lately,  many 
communities  of  them  in  Flanders. 
What  changes  the  late  revolutions 
may  have  eflFected  upon  these  nur- 
series of  superstition  we  have  yet 
to  learn. 

BEHMENISTS,  a  name  giv- 
en to  those  mystics  who  adopt  the 
explications  of  the  mysteries  of 
nature  and  grace,  as  given  by  Ja- 
cob Behmen.  This  writer  was 
born,  in  the  year  1575,  at  Old 
Seidenburg,  near  Gorlitz,  in  Up- 
per Lusatia  :  he  was  a  shoemaker 
by  trade.  He  is  described  as  having 
been  thoughtful  and  religious  from 
his  youth  up,  taking  peculiar  plea- 
sure jn  frequenting  public  wor- 
ship. At  length,  seriously  consi- 
/clering  within  himself  tjiat  speech 


of  our  Saviour,  My  Father  which 
is  in  heaven  tvill  give  the  Holy 
Spirit  to  them  that  ask  him,  he  was 
thereby  thoroughly  awakened  in 
himself,  and  set  forward  to  desire 
that  promised  Comforter ;  and, 
continuing  in  that  earnestness,  he 
was  at  last,  to  use  his  own  expres-r 
sion,  "surrounded  with  a  divine 
light  for  seven  days,  and  stood  in 
the  highest  contemplation  and 
kingdom  of  joys !"  After  this, 
about  the  year  1600,  he  was  again 
surrounded  by  the  divine  light, 
and  replenished  with  the  heavenly 
knowledge ;  insomuch  as,  going 
abroad  into  the  fields,  and  view- 
ing the  herbs  and  grass,  by  his  in- 
ward light  he  saw  into  their  es- 
sences, use,  and  properties,  which 
were  discovered  to  him  by  their 
lineaments,  figures,  and  signa- 
tures. In  the  year  1610  he  had  a 
third  special  illumination,  wherein 
still  farther  mysteries  were  reveal- 
ed to  him.  It  was  not  till  the  year 
1612  that  Behmen  committed 
these  revelations  to  writing.  His 
first  treatise  is  entitled  Aurora^ 
which  was  seized  on  and  withheld^ 
from  him  by  the  senate  of  Gorlitz 
(who  persecuted  him  at  the  insti- 
gation of  the  pi-imate  of  that  place) 
before  it  was  finished,  and  he  ne- 
ver afterwards  proceeded  with  it 
farther  than  by  adding  some  ex- 
planatory notes.  The  next  pro- 
duction of  his  pen  is  called  The 
Three  Principles,  In  this  work 
he  more  fully  illustrates  the  sub- 
jects treated  of  in  the  former,  and 
supplies  what  is  wanting  in  that 
work.  The  contents  of  these  two 
treatises  may  be  divided  as  follow : 
1.  Hov/  all  things  came  from  a 
working  will  of  the  holy  triune  in- 
comprehensible God,  manifesting 


BEH 


70 


BEH 


himself  as  Father,  Son,  and  Holy 
Spirit,  through  an  outward  per- 
ceptible working  triune  power  of 
fire,  light,  and  spirit,  in  the 
kingdom  of  heaven. — 2.  How 
and  what  angels  and  men  were 
in  their  creation  ;  that  they  are  in 
and  fpom  God,  his  real  offspring  ; 
that  their  life  begun  in  and  from 
this  divine  fire  which  is  the  Father 
of  Light,  generating  a  birth  of 
light  in  their  souls ;  from  both 
which  proceeds  the  Holy  Spirit, 
or  breath  of  divine  love  in  the 
triune  creature,  as  it  does  in  the 
triune  Creator. — 3.  How  some 
?-ngels,  and  all  men,  are  fallen 
from  God,  and  their  first  state  of 
a  divine  triune  life  in  him  ;  what 
they  are  in  their  fallen  state,  and 
the  difference  between  the  fall  of 
angels  and  that  of  man. — 4.  How 
the  earth,  stars,  and  elements, 
were  created  in  consequence  of 
the  fall  of  angels. — 5.  Whence 
there  is  good  and  evil  in  all  this 
temporal  world,  in  all  its  crea- 
tures, animate  and  inanimate ; 
and  what  is  meant  by  the  Curse 
that  dwells  every  where  in  it. — 6. 
Of  the  kingdom  of  Christ ;  how  it 
is  set  in  opposition  to  and  fights 
and  strives  against  the  kingdom  of 
hell. — 7.  How  man,  through  faith 
in  Christ,  is  able  to  overcome  the 
kingdom  of  hell,  and  triumph 
over  it  in  the  divine  power,  and 
thereby  obtain  eternal  salvation  ; 
also  how,  through  working  in  the 
hellish  quantity  or  principle,  he 
casts  himself  into  perdition. — 8. 
How  and  why  sin  and  misery, 
wrath  and  death,  shall  only  reign 
for  a  time,  till  the  love,  the  wis- 
dom, and  the  power  of  God  shall  j 
in  a  supernatural:  way  (the  mys- ! 
ter}'  of  God  made  man)  triumph  i 


over  sin,  misery,  and  death  ;  and 
make  fallen  man  rise  to  the  glory 
of  angels,  and  this  material  sys- 
tem shake  off  its  curse,  and  enter 
into  an  everlasting  union  with  that 
heaven  from  whence  it  fell. 

The  year  after  he  wrote  his 
Three  Principles^  by  which  are  to 
be  understood — the  dark  world, 
or  hell,  in  which  the  devils  live — 
the  light  world,  or  heaven,  in 
which  the  angels  live — the  exter- 
nal and  visible  world,  which  has 
proceeded  from  the  internal  and 
spiritual  worlds,  in  which  man, 
as  to  his  bodily  life,  lives — Beh- 
men  produced  his  Threefold  Life 
of  Man^  according  to  the  Three 
Principles.  In  this  work  he 
treats  more  largely  of  the  state  of 
man  in  this  world:  1.  That  he 
has  that  immortal  spark  of  life 
which  is  common  to  angels  and 
devils. — 2.  That  divine  life  of  the 
light  and  spirit  of  God,  which 
makes  the  essential  difference  be- 
tween an  angel  and  a  devil,  the 
last  having  extinguished  this  di- 
vine life  in  himself;  but  that  man 
can  only  attain  unto  this  heavenly 
life  of  the  second  principle  through 
the  new  birth  in  Christ  Jesus. — 3. 
The  life  of  the  third  principle,  or 
of  this  external  and  visible  world. 
Thus  the  life  of  the  first  and  third 
principles  is  common  to  all  men  ; 
but  the  life  of  the  second  princi- 
ple only  to  a  true  christian,  or 
child  of  God. 

Behmen  wrote  several  other 
treatises,  besides  the  three  alrea- 
dy enumerated ;  but  these  three 
being,  as  it  were,  the  basis  of  all 
his  other  writings,  it  was  thought 
proper  to  notice  them  particularly. 
His  conceptions  are  often  clothed 
under    allegorical   symbols ;    and 


BEL 


71 


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in  his  latter  works  he  has  fre- 
quently adopted  chemical  and  La- 
tin phrases  to  express  his  ideas, 
which  phrases  he  borrowed  from 
conversation  with  learned  men, 
the  education  he  had  received  be- 
ing too  illiterate  to  furnish  him 
with  them :  but  as  to  the  matter 
contained  in  his  writings,  he  dis- 
claimed having  borrowed  it  either 
from  men  or  books.  He  died  in 
the  year  1624.  His  last  words 
were,  "  Now  I  go  hence  into  Pa- 
radise." 

Some  of  Behmen's  principles 
were  adopted  by  the  late  ingeni- 
ous and  pious  William  Law,  who 
has  clothed  them  in  a  more  mo- 
dem dress,  and  in  a  less  obscure 
style.  See  Behmen^s  JVorks  ; 
Okelifs  Memoirs  of  Behmen. 

BELIEF,  in  its  general  and 
natural  sense,  denotes  a  persuasion 
or  an  assent  of  the  mind  to  the 
truth  of  any  proposition.  In  this 
sense  belief  has  no  relation  to  any 
particular  kind  of  means  or  argu- 
ments, but  may  be  produced  by 
any  means  whatever :  thus  we  are 
said  to  believe  our  senses,  to  be- 
lieve our  reason,  to  believe  a  wit- 
ness. Belief  in  its  more  restrain- 
ed sense,  denotes  that  kind  of  as- 
sent which  is  grounded  only  on 
the  authority  or  testimony  of  some 
person.  In  this  sense  belief  stands 
opposed  to  knowledge  and  science. 
We  do  not  say  that  we  believe 
snow  is  white,  but  we  know  it  to 
be  so.  But  when  a  thing  is  pro- 
pounded to  us,  of  which  we  our- 
selves have  no  knowledge,  but 
which  appears  to  us  to  be  true 
from  the  testimony  given  to  it  by 
another,  this  is  what  we  call  belief. 
See  Faith. 

BELIEVERS,  an  appellation 


given,  toward  the  close  of  the  first 
centurv,  to  those  christians  who 
had  been  admitted  into  the  church 
by  baptism,  and  instructed  in  all 
the  mysteries  of  religion.  They 
were  thus  called  in  contradistinc- 
tion to  the  catechumens  who  had 
not  been  baptized,  and  were  de- 
baiTed  from  those  privileges. 
Among  us  it  is  often  used  syno- 
nymously with  christian.  See 
Christian. 

BENEDICTINES,  an  order 
of  monks  who  professed  to  follow 
the  rules  of  Sr.  Benedict.  They 
were  obliged  to  perform  their  de- 
votions seven  times  in  twenty- 
four  hours.  They  were  obliged 
always  to  go  two  and  two  together. 
Every  day  in  Lent  they  fasted  till 
six  in  the  evening,  and  abated  of 
their  usual  time  in  sleeping,  eat- 
ing, &c. — Every  monk  had  two 
coats,  two  cowls,  a  table-book,  a 
knife,  aneedle,andahandkerchief; 
and  the,  furniture  of  his  bed  was  a 
mat,  a  blanket,  a  rug,  and  a  pil- 
low. The  time  when  this  order 
came  into  England  is  well  known, 
for  to  it  the  English  owe  their 
conversion  from  idolatry.  They 
founded  the  metropolitan  church 
of  Canterbury,  and  all  the  cathe- 
drals that  were  afterwards  erect- 
ed. The  order  has  produced  a 
vast  number  of  eminent  men. — 
Their  Alcuinus  founded  the  uni- 
versity of  Paris  ;  their  Dionysius 
Exiguus  perfected  the  ecclesiasti- 
cal computation  ;  their  Guido  in- 
vented the;  scale  of  music  ;  and 
their  Sylvester  the  organ. 

BENEFICENCE,  the  practice 
of  doing  good ;  active  goodness. — 
Next  to  justice,  the  most  promi- 
nent virtue  in  the  system  of  mo- 
rality,   is    beneficence.       Power 


BEN 


72 


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makes  us  to  be  feared,  riches  to 
be  flattered,  learning  to  be  admir- 
ed ;  but  beneficence  renders  us 
amiable  and  useful  in  the  scale  of 
society.  Some  qualifications  are 
solitary,  and  centre  mostly  in  our- 
selves ;  but  this  is  social,  diffusive, 
and  kind.  The  objects  of  our  be- 
neficence are  all  those  who  are  in 
the  sphere  of  our  influence  and  ac- 
tion, without  respect  to  party  or 
sect.  Toward  superiors,  benefi- 
cence expresseth  itself  in  respect, 
honour,  submission,  and  service  ; 
toward  inferiors,  in  liberality,  con- 
descension, protection,  and  sup- 
port ;  toward  equals,  in  all  the  of- 
fices of  love  their  cases  require, 
and  which  they  have  ability  for. 
It  includes  all  the  kind  exertions 
on  the  behalf  of  the  poor,  the  sick, 
the  fatherless,  the  widow,  the  dis- 
tressed, &c.  and  especially  those 
*'-  who  are  of  the  household  of 
faith,"  Gal.  vi,  10.  The  means  of 
beneficence  are — communication 
of  temporal  supplies,  Gal.  vi,  6  ; 
prayer,  James  v,  16;  sympathy, 
Rom.  xii,  15;  appropriate  advice 
and  conversation.  Col.  iii,  16. — 
GhRgations  to  beneficence  arise 
from  the  law  of  nature,  Actsxvii, 
26;  the  law  of  revelation,  Heb. 
xiii,  16  ;  the  relations  we  stand  in 
to  each  other,  Gal.  vi,  1,2;  the 
example  of  Christ  and  illustrious 
characters.  Acts  x,  38;  the  resem- 
blance we  herein  bear  to  the  best 
of  Beings,  Acts  xiv,  17;  and  the 
pleasure  we  receive  and  give  in  so 
noble  an  eiTiploy.  See  Be^tevo- 
LENCE,  Charity,  Love. 

benevolence;  the  love 
of  mankind  in  general,  accompani- 
ed with  a  desire  to  promote  their 
happiness.  It  is  distinguished  from 


beneficence^  that  being  the  practice; 
benevolence  the    desire  of  doing 
good.     Benevolence  must  be  uni- 
versal,   reaching    to    every    man 
without    exception ;    but    benefi- 
cence cannot  be  so  universal,  for 
it  is  necessarily  confined  by  seve- 
ral   considerations  ;  such   as    our 
knowledge    of  objects,  and  their 
different   circumstances,    as    well 
as  our  own  abilities  and  opportuni- 
ties of  exercising  them.     Benevo- 
lence or  good  will  to  others  does 
not  imply  that  we  are  to  neglect 
our  own  interests.    Our  salvation, 
health,  prosperity,  and  reputation, 
should  all  be  objects  of  concern: 
nor  will  this  clash  with  the  affec- 
tion we  may  bear  to  others ;  on 
the  contrary,  experiencing  the  im- 
portance  of  these  blessings  our- 
selves, we   shall    be    anxious  for 
others  to  possess  them  also.    ,  The 
duties  of  benevolence  include  those 
we  owe   to  men   purely   on   the 
ground  of  their  being  of  the  same 
species  with  oui-selves  ;  such   as 
S3'mpathy,  relief,  &c. ;  those  we 
owe  to  our  country,  desiring  its 
honour,  safety,  prosperity  ;  those 
we  owe  to  the  church  of  God,  as 
love,  zeal,  &c.  ;  those  we  owe  to 
families  and  individuals,  as  affec- 
tion, care,  provision,  justice,  for- 
bearance, &c.  Benevolence  mani- 
fests itself  by  being  pleased  with 
the  share  of  good  every  creature 
enjoys ;  in  a  disposition  to  increase 
it ;  in  feeling  an  uneasiness  at  their 
sufferings ;  and  in  the  abhorrence 
of  cruelty  under  every  disguise  or 
pretext.  The  desire  of  doing  good 
unconnected  with  any  idea  of  ad- 
vantage to  ourselves  is  called  disin- 
terested benevolence  ;  though  some 
doubt  whether,  strictly  speaking, 


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BER 


there  be  any  such  thing ;  because 
benevolence  is  always  attended 
with  apleasure  to  ourselves,  which 
forms  a  kind  of  mental  interest. 
So  far,  however,  as  we  are  able  to 
prefer  the  good  of  others  to  our 
own,  and  sacrifice  our  own  com- 
fort for  the  welfare  of  any  about 
us,  so  far  it  may  be  said  to  be  dis- 
interested. See  Hutcheson  on  the 
Passions'^  p.  13-26;  Doddridge's 
Lect.,  65  ;  Beattie^s  Elements  of 
Moral  Science^  vol.  i,  p.  244-249  ; 
Brown^s  Second  Essay  on  Shaftes- 
bury^ S  Chai'acteristics  ;  and  articles 
Love,  and  Self-love. 

BEREANS,asectofprotestant 
dissenters  from  the  church  of  Scot- 
land, who  take  their  title  from  and 
profess  to  follow  the  example  of 
the  ancient  Bereans,  in  building 
their  system  of  faith  and  practice 
upon  the  scriptures  alone,  without 
regard  to  any  human  authority 
whatever. 

As  to  the  origin  of  this  sect,  we 
find  that  the  Bereans  first  as- 
sembled as  a  separate  society  of 
christians,  in  the  city  of  Edin- 
burgh, in  the  autumn  of  177'3,  and 
soon  after  in  the  parish  of  Fetter- 
cairn.  The  opponents  of  the  Be- 
rean  doctrines  allege  that  this  new 
system  of  faith  would  never  have 
been  heard  of,  had  not  Mr.  Bar- 
clay, the  founder  of  it,  been  disap- 
pointed of  a  settlement  in  the 
church  of  Scotland.  But  the 
Bereans  in  answer  to  this  charge 
appeal  not  only  to  Mr.  Barclay's 
doctrine,  uniformly  preached  in 
the  church  of  Fettercairn,  and 
many  other  places  in  that  neigh- 
bourhood, for  fourteen  years  be- 
fore that  benefice  became  vacant, 
but  likewise  to  two  different  trea- 

VOL.   I.  L! 


tises,  containing  the  same  doc- 
trines, published  by  him  about  ten 
or  twelve  years  before  that  period. 
They  admit,  indeed,  that  previous 
to  May  1773,  when  the  general 
assembly,  by  sustaining  the  king's 
presentation  in  favour  of  Mr. 
Foote,  excluded  Mr.  Barclayfrom 
succeeding  to  the  church  of  Fet- 
tercairn (notwithstanding  the  al- 
most unanimous  desire  of  the  pa- 
rishioners), the  Bereans  had  not 
left  the  established  church,  or 
attempted  to  erect  themselves  into 
a  distinct  society  ;  but  they  add, 
that  this  was  by  no  means  neces- 
sary on  their  part,  until  by  the 
assembly's  decision  they  were  in 
danger  of  being  not  only  deprived 
of  his  instructions,  but  of  being 
scattered  as  sheep  without  a  shep- 
herd. And  they  add,  that  it  was 
Mr.  Barclay's  open  and  public 
avowal,  both  from  the  pulpit  and 
the  press,  of  those  peculiar  sen- 
timents which  now  distinguish  the 
Bereans,  that  was  the  first  and 
principal,  if  not  the  only  cause  of 
the  opposition  set  on  foot  against 
his  settlement  in  Fettercairn. 

The  Bereans  agree  with  the  great 
majority  of  christians  respecting 
the  doctrine  of  the  Trinity,  which 
they  hold  as  a  fundamental  article ; 
and  they  also  agree  in  a  great  mea- 
sure with  the  professed  principles 
of  both  our  established  churches 
respecting  predestination  and  elec- 
tion, though  they  allege  that  these 
doctrines  are  not  consistently 
taught  in  either  church.  But  they 
differ  from  the  majority  of  all  sects 
of  christians  in  various  other  im- 
portant particulars,  such  as,  1.  Re* 
specting  our  knowledge  of  the 
Deity.     Upon  this  subject  they 


BER 


74 


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say,  the  majority  of  professed 
christians  stumble  at  the  very 
threshold  of  revelation  ;  and,  by 
admitting  the  doctrine  of  natural 
religion,  natural  conscience,  natu- 
ral notices,  &c.  not  founded  upon 
revelation,  or  derived  from  it  by 
tradition,  they  give  up  the  cause 
of  Christianity  at  once  to  the  in- 
fidels ;  who  may  justly  argue,  as 
Mr.  Paine  in  fact  does  in  his  Age 
of  Reason,  that  there  is  no  occa- 
sion for  any  revelation  or  word 
of  God,  if  man  can  discover  his 
nature  and  perfections  from  his 
works  alone.  But  this  the  Bere- 
ans  argue  is  beyond  the  natural 
powers  of  human  reason ;  and 
therefore  our  knowledge  of  God 
is  from  revelation  alone,  and  that 
without  revelation  man  would 
never  have  entertained  an  idea  of 
his  existence. — 2.  With  regard  to 
faith  in  Christ,  and  assurance  of 
salvation  through  his  merits,  they 
differ  from  almost  all  other  sects 
whatsoever.  These  they  reckon 
inseparable,  or  rather  the  same, 
because  (say  they)  "  God  hath 
expressly  declared,  he  that  be- 
lieveth  shall  be  saved  ;  and  there- 
fore it  is  not  only  absurd  but  im- 
pious, and  in  a  manner  calling  God 
a  liar,  for  a  man  to  say,  I  believe 
the  gospel,  but  have  doubts,  never- 
theless, ofmy  own  salvation."  With 
regard  to  the  various  distinctions 
and  definitions  thathavc  been  given 
of  different  kinds  of  faith,  they  ar- 
gue that  there  is  nothing  incompre- 
hensible or  obscure  in  the  meaning 
of  tbis  word  as  used  in  scripture  ; 
but  that  as  faith,  when  applied  to 
human  testimony,  signifies  neither 
more  nor  less  than  the  mere  sim- 
ple belief  of   that  testimony  as 


true,  upon  the  authority  of  the 
testifier,  so,  when  applied  to  the 
testimony  of  God,  it  signifies  pre- 
cisely "  the  belief  of  his  testi- 
mony, and  resting  upon  his  vera- 
city alone,  without  any  kind  of 
collateral  support  from  concur- 
rence of  any  other  evidence  or 
testimony  whatever."  And  they 
insist  that,  as  this  faith  is  the  gift 
of  God  alone,  so  the  person  to 
whom  it  is  given  is  as  conscious 
of  possessing  it  as  the  being  to 
whom  God  gives  life  is  of  being 
alive  ;  and  therefore  he  entertains 
no  doubts  either  of  his  faith  or 
his  consequent  salvation  through 
the  merits  of  Christ,  who  died  and 
rose  again  for  that  purpose.  In . 
a  word,  they  argue  that  the  gospel 
would  not  be,  what  it  is  held  forth 
to  be,  glad  tidings  of  great  joy, 
if  it  did  not  bring  full  person- 
al assurance  of  eternal  salvation 
to  the  believer ;  which  assur- 
ance, they  insist,  is  the  present  in- 
fallible privilege  and  portion  of 
eveiy  individual  believer  of  the 
gospel. — 3.  Consistently  with  the 
above  definition  of  faith,  they  say 
that  the  sin  against  the  Holy  Ghost, 
which  has  alarmed  and  puzzled  so 
many  in  all  ages,  is  nothing  else  but 
unbelief;  and  that  the  expresion — 
"  it  shall  not  be  forgiven  neither 
in  this  world,  nor  that  which  is  to 
come,"  means  only  that  a  person 
dying  in  infidelity  would  not  be 
forgiven  neither  under  the  former 
dispensation  by  Moses  (the  then 
present  dispensation,  kingdom,  or 
government  of  God),  nor  under 
the  gospel  dispensation,  which,  in 
respect  of  the  Mosaic,  was  a  kind 
of  future  world  or  kingdom  to 
come. — 4.  The  Bereans  interpret 


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75 


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a  great  part  of  the  Old  Testament 
prophecies,  and  in  particular  the 
whole  of  the  Psalms,  excepting 
such  as  are  merely  historical  or 
laudatory,  to  be  typical  or  pro- 
phetical of  Jesus  Christ,  his  suf- 
ferings, atonement,  mediation,  and 
kingdom  ;  and  they  esteem  it  a 
gross  perversion  of  these  psalms 
and  prophecies  to  apply  them  to 
the  experiences  of  private  chris- 
tians. In  proof  of  this,  they  not 
only  urge  the  words  of  the  apostle, 
that  no  prophecy  is  of  any  private 
interpretation,  but  they  insist  that 
the  whole  of  the  quotations  from 
the  ancient  prophecies  in  the  New 
Testament,  and  particularly  those 
from  the  Psalms,  are  expressly 
applied  to  Christ.  In  this  opinion 
many  other  classes  of  protestants 
agree  with  them. — 5.  Of  the  ab- 
solute all-superintending  sove- 
reignty of  the  Almighty,  the  Be- 
reans  entertain  the  highest  idea,  as 
well  as  of  the  uninterrupted  exer- 
tion thereof  over  all  his  works,  in 
heaven,  earth,  and  hell,  however 
unsearchable  by  his  creatures.  A 
God  without  election,  they  argue, 
or  choice  in  all  his  works,  is  a 
God  without  existence,  a  mere 
idol,  a  non-entity.  And  to  deny 
God's  election,  purpose,  and  ex- 
press will  in  all  his  works,  is  to 
make  him  inferior  to  ourselves. 

As  to  their  practice  and  disci- 
pline^ they  consider  infant  baptism 
as  a  divine  ordinance,  instituted 
in  the  room  of  circuaicision  ;  and 
think  it  absurd  to  suppose  that  in- 
fants, who  all  agi-ee  are  admissi- 
ble to  the  kingdom  of  God  in 
heaven,  should,  nevertheless,  be 
incapable  of  being  admitted  into 
his  visible  church  on  earth.  They 


commemorate  the  Lord's  supper 
generally  once  a  month ;  but  as 
the  words  of  the  institution  fix  no 
particular  period,  they  sometimes 
celebrate  it  oftener,  and  some- 
times at  more  distant  periods,  as 
it  may  suit  their  general  conveni- 
ence. They  meet  every  Lord's 
day  for  the  purpose  of  preaching, 
praying,  and  exhorting  to  love 
and  good  works.  With  regard  to 
admission  and  exclusion  of  mem- 
bers, their  method  is  very  simple : 
'yhen  any  person,  after  hearing  the 
Berean  doctrines,  professes  his  be- 
lief and  assurance  of  the  truths  of 
the  gospel,  and  desires  to  be  ad- 
mitted into  their  communion,  he 
is  cheerfully  received  upon  his 
profession,  whatever  may  have 
been  his  former  manner  of  life. 
But  if  such  a  one  should  after- 
wards draw  back  from  his  good 
profession  or  practice,  they  first 
admonish  him,  and,  if  that  has  no 
eflPect,  they  leave  him  to  himself. 
They  do  not  think  that  they  have 
any  power  to  deliver  a  backsliding 
brother  to  Satan :  that  text,  and 
other  similar  passages,  such  as, 
"  Whatsoever  ye  shall  bind  on 
earth  shall  be  bound  in  heaven," 
&c.  they  consider  as  restricted  to 
the  apostles  and  to  the  inspired 
testimony  alone,  and  not  to  be  ex- 
tended to  any  church  on  earth,  or 
any  number  of  churches  or  of 
christians,  whether  decided  by 
a  majority  of  votes,  or  by  unani- 
mous voices.  Neither  do  they 
think  themselves  authorized,  as  a 
christian  church,  to  enquire  into 
each  other's  political  opinions,  any 
more  than  to  examine  into  each 
other's  notions  of  philosophy. 
They  both  recommend  and  prac- 


BER 


BIB 


tise,as  christian  duties,  submission 
to  lawful  authority  ;  but  they  do 
not  think  that  a  man  by  becoming 
a  christian,or  joining  their  society, 
IS  under  any  obligation  by  the 
rules  of  the  gospel  to  renounce  his 
right  of  private  judgment  upon 
matters  of  public  or  private  im- 
portance. Upon  all  such  subjects 
they  allow  each  other  to  think  and 
act  as  each  may  see  it  his  duty : 
and  they  require  nothing  more  of 
the  members  than  a  uniform  and 
steady  profession  of  the  apostolic 
faith,  and  a  suitable  walk  and  con- 
versation. 

It  is  said  that  their  doctrine  has 
found  converts  in  various  places  of 
Scotland,  England,  and  America : 
and  that  they  have  congregations 
in  Edinburgh,  Glasgow,  Paisley, 
Stirling,  Crieff,  Dundee,  Arbroath, 
Montrose,  Fettercairn,  Aberdeen, 
and  other  towns  in  Scotland,  as 
well  as  in  London,  and  various 
places  in  England. 

For  farther  particulars  of  the 
doctrines  of  this  sect,  see  the 
works  of  Messrs.  Barclay^  Nicol^ 
Brooksbank^  and  M'-Rae.  See  also 
Mr.  A.  M'-Leaji's  Treatise  on  the 
Commission^  first  edition,  p.  88,  in 
which  Mr.  Barclay's  notion  of  as- 
surance is  combated. 

BERENGARIANS,  a  deno- 
mination, in  the  eleventh  century, 
which  adhered  to  the  opinions  of 
Berengarius,  who  asserted  that  the 
bread  and  wine  in  the  Lord's  sup- 
per are  not  really  and  essentially, 
but  figuratively  changed  into  the 
body  and  blood  of  Christ.  His 
followers  were  divided  in  opinion 
as  to  the  eucharist.  Some  allow- 
ed them  to  be  changed  in  effect ; 
others  admitted  a  change  in  part ; 


and  others  an  entire  change,  with 
this  restriction,  that,  to  those  who 
communicated  unworthily,  the 
elements  were  changed  back 
again. 

BERYLLIANS,  so  called  from 
Beryllus,  an  Arabian,  bishop  of 
Bozrah,  who  flourished  in  the 
third  century.  He  taught  that 
Christ  did  not  exist  before  Maryj 
but  that  a  spirit  issuing  from  God 
himself,  and  therefore  superior  to 
all  human  souls,  as  being  a  portion 
of  the  divine  nature,  was  united 
to  him  at  the  time  of  his  birth. 

BETHLEHEMITES,  a  sect 
called  also  Star-bearers,  because 
they  were  distinguished  by  a  red 
star  having  five  rays,  which  they 
wore  on  their  breast,  in  memory 
of  the  star  which  appeared  to  the 
wise  men.  Several  authors  have 
mentioned  this  order,  but  none  of 
them  have  told  us  their  origin, 
nor  where  their  convents  were 
situated ;  if  we  except  Matthew 
Paris,  who  says  that,  in  1257', 
they  obtained  a  settlement  in  Eng- 
land, which  was  at  Cambridge,  in 
Trumpington  Street. 

BIBLE,  the  name  applied  by 
christians,  by  way  of  eminence,  to 
the  collection  of  sacred  writings, 
or  the  holy  scriptures  of  the  Old 
and  New  Testaments. 

I.  Bible,  ancie?it Divisions  and 
Order  of.  After  the  return  of  the 
Jews  from  the  Babylonish  captivi- 
ty, Ezra  collected  as  many  copies 
as  he  could  cf  the  sacred  writings, 
and  out  of  them  all  prepared  a 
correct  edition,  arranging  the  se- 
veral books  in  their  proper  order. 
These  books  he  divided  into  three 
parts.  I.  The  law.  ii.  The  pro- 
phets.    III.    The    Hagiographia, 


X 


BIB 


77 


BIB 


i.  e,  the  holy  writings,  i.  The 
law,  contains — 1 ,  Genesis  ; — 2, 
Exodus ; — 3,  Leviticus ;— 4,  Num- 
bers i — 5,  Deuteronomy,  ii.  The 
writings  of  the  prophets  are — 1, 
Joshua  ; — 2,  Judges,  with  Ruth; — 
3,  Samuel ; — 4,  Kings  ; — 5,  Isai- 
ah ; — 6,  Jeremiah,  with  his  La- 
mentations ; — 7,  Ezekiel ; — 8,  Da- 
niel ; — 9,  The  twelve  minor  pro- 
phets ; — 10,  Job  ; — 1 1 ,  Ezra ; — 
12,  Nehemiah  ; — 13,  Esther,  iii. 
The  Hagiographia  consists  of — 1, 
The  Psalms ; — 2,  The  Proverbs ; — 
3,  Ecclesiastes ; — 4,  The  Song  of 
Solomon.  This  division  was  made 
for  the  sake  of  reducing  the  num- 
ber of  the  sacred  books  to  the 
number  of  the  letters  in  their 
alphabet,  which  amount  to  twenty- 
two.  Afterwards  the  Jews  reckon- 
ed twenty-four  books  in  their  ca- 
non of  scripture  j  in  disposing  of 
which  the  law  stood  as  in  the  for- 
mer division,  and  the  prophets 
were  distributed  into  former  and 
latter:  the  former  prophets  are 
Joshua,  Judges,  Sanauel,  and 
Kings  ;  the  latter  prophets  are 
Isaiah,  Jeremiah,  Ezekiel,  and  the 
twelve  minor  prophets.  And  the 
Hagiographia  consists  of  the 
Psalms,  the  Proverbs,  Job,  the 
Song  of  Solomon,  Ruth,  the  La- 
mentations, Ecclesisvstes,  Esther, 
Daniel,  Ezra,  the  Chronicles. 
Under  the  name  of  Ezra  they 
comprehend  Nehemiah :  this  or- 
der hath  not  always  been  observ- 
ed, but  the  variations  from  it  are 
of  no  moment.  The  five  books 
of  the  law  are  divided  into  forty- 
five  sections.  This  division  many 
of  the  Jews  hold  to  have  been  ap- 
pointed by  Moses  himself;  but 
others,  with  more  probability,  as- 


cribe it  to  Ezra.  The  design  of 
this  division  was,  that  one  of  these 
sections  might  be  read  in  their 
synagogues  every  sabbath  day : 
the  number  was  fifty-four,  because 
in  their  intercalated  years,  a  month 
being  then  added,  there  were  fifty- 
four  sabbaths  :  in  other  years  they 
reduced  them  to  fifty-two,  by 
twice  joining  together  two  short 
sections.  Till  the  persecution  of 
Antiochus  Epiphanes,  they  read 
only  the  law ;  but,  the  reading  of 
it  being  then  prohibited,  they  sub- 
stituted in  the  room  of  it  fifty-four 
sections  out  of  the  prophets ;  and 
when  the  reading  of  the  law 
was  restored  by  the  Maccabees, 
the  section  which  was  read  every 
sabbath  out  of  the  law  served  for 
their  first  lesson,  and  the  section 
out  of  the  prophets  for  their 
second.  These  sections  were  di- 
vided into  verses ;  of  which  divi- 
sion if  Ezra  was  not  the  author, 
it  was  introduced  not  long  after 
him,  and  seems  to  have  been  de- 
signed for  the  use  of  the  Targu- 
mists,  or  Chaldee  interpreters ;  for 
after  the  return  of  the  Jews  from 
the  Babylonish  captivity,  when  the 
Hebrew  language  ceased  to  be 
their  mother  tongue,  and  the  Chal- 
dee grew  into  use  instead  of  it,  the 
custom  was,  that  the  law  should 
be  first  read  in  the  original  Hebrew, 
and  then  interpreted  to  the  people 
in  the  Chaldee  language  ;  for 
which  purpose  these  shorter  sec- 
tions were  very  convenient. 

IL  Bible,  History  of.  It  is 
though  that  Ezra  published  the 
scriptures  in  the  Chaldee  charac- 
ter, for,  that  language  being  gene- 
rally used  among  the  Jews,  he 
thought  proper  to  change  the  old 


BIB 


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Hebrew  character  for  it,  which 
hath  since  that  time  been  retain- 
ed only  by  the  Samaritans,  among 
whom  it  is  preserved  to  this  day. 
Prideaux  is  of  opinion  that  Ezra 
made  additions  in  several  parts  of 
the  Bible,  where  any  thing  ap- 
peared necessary  for  illustrating, 
connecting,  or  completing  the 
v/ork ;  in  which  he  appears  to 
have  been  assisted  by  the  same 
spirit  in  which  they  were  first 
written.  Among  such  additions 
are  to  be  reckoned  the  last  chap- 
ter of  Deuteronomy,  wherein  Mo- 
ses seems  to  give  an  account  of 
his  own  death  and  burial,  and  the 
succession  of  Joshua  after  him. 
To  the  same  cause,  our  learned 
author  thinks,  are  to  be  attributed 
many  other  interpolations  in  the 
Bible,  which  created  difficulties 
and  objections  to  the  authenticity 
of  the  sacred  text,  no  ways  to  be 
solved  without  allowing  them. 
Ezra  changed  the  names  of  seve- 
ral places  which  were  grown  ob- 
solete, and,  instead  of  them,  put 
their  new  names  by  which  they 
were  then  called  in  the  text.  Thus 
it  is  that  Abraham  is  said  to  have 
pursued  the  kings  who  carried  Lot 
away  captive  as  far  as  Dan ;  where- 
as that  place  in  Moses's  time  was 
called  Laish,  the  name  Dan  being 
unknown  till  the  Danites,  long  af- 
ter the  death  of  Moses,  possessed 
themselves  of  it.  The  Jewish  ca- 
non of  scripture  was  then  settled 
by  Ezra,  yet  not  so  but  that  seve- 
ral variations  have  been  made  in 
it.  Malachi,  for  instance,  could 
not  be  put  in  the  Bible  by  him, 
since  that  prophet  js  allowed  to 
have  lived  after  Ezra ;  nor  could 
Nehemiah   be  there,    since  that 


book  mentions  (chap,  xii,  v.  22) 
Jaddua  as  high  priest,  and  Darius 
Coddamannus  as  king  of  Persia, 
who  were  at  least  a  hundred  years 
later  than  Ezra.  It  may  be  add- 
ed, that,  in  the  first  book  of  Chro- 
nicles, the  genealogy  of  the  sons 
of  Zerubbabel  is  carried  down  for 
so  many  generations  as  must  ne- 
cessarily bring  it  to  the  time  of, 
Alexander ;  and  consequently  this- 
book,  or  at  least  this  part  of  it, 
could  not  be  in  the  canon  in  Ez- 
ra's days.  It  is  probable  the  two 
books  of  Chronicles,  Ezra,  Ne- 
hemiah, Esther,  and  Malachi, 
were  adopted  into  the  Bible  in  the 
time  of  Simon  the  Just,  the  last  of 
the  men  of  the  great  synagogue. 
The  Jews,  at  first,  were  very 
reserved  in  communicating  their 
scriptures  to  strangers  ;  despising 
and  shunning  the  Gentiles,  they 
would  not  disclose  to  them  any 
of  the  treasures  concealed  in  the 
Bible.  We  may  add,  that  the 
people  bordering  on  the  Jews,  as 
the  Egyptians,  Phoenicians,  Arabs, 
&c.  were  not  very  curious  to 
know  the  laws  or  history  of  a 
people,  whom  in  their  turn  they 
hated  and  despised.  Their  first 
acquaintance  with  these  books 
was  not  till  after  the  several  cap- 
tivities of  the  Jews,  when  the  sin- 
gularity of  the  Hebrew  laws  and 
ceremonies  induced  several  to 
desire  a  more  particular  know- 
ledge of  them.  Josephus  seems 
surprised  to  find  such  slight  foot- 
steps of  the  scripture  history  in- 
terspersed in  the  Egyptian,  Chal- 
dean, Phoenician,  and  Grecian 
history ;  and  accounts  for  it  hence, 
that  the  sacred  books  were  not 
as    yet    translated    into     Greek 


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79 


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or  other  languages,  and  conse- 
quently not  known  to  the  writers 
of  those  nations.  The  first  ver- 
sion of  the  Bible  was  that  of  the 
Septuagint  into  Greek,  by  order  of 
that  patron  of  literature,  Ptolemy 
Philadelphus  ;  though  some  main- 
tain that  the  whole  was  not  then 
translated,  but  only  the  Penta- 
teuch ;  between  which  and  the 
other  books  in  the  Septuagint  ver- 
sion, the  critics  find  a  great  diver- 
sity in  point  of  style  and  expres- 
sion, as  well  as  of  accuracy. 

III.  Bible,  modern  Divisions 
of.  The  division  of  the  scriptures 
into  chapters,  as  we  at  present 
have  them,  is  of  modern  date. 
Some  attribute  it  to  Stephen  Lang- 
ton,  archbishop  of  Canterbury,  in 
the  reigns  of  John  and  Henry  III. 
But  the  true  author  of  the  inven- 
tion wa^  Hugo  de  Sancto  Caro, 
commonly  called  Hugo  Cardinalis, 
because  he  was  the  first  Dominican 
that  ever  was  raised  to  the  degree 
of  cardinal.  This  Hugo  flourish- 
ed about  A.  D.  1240:  he  wrote 
a  comment  on  the  scriptures,  and 
projected  the  first  concordance, 
which  is  that  of  the  vulgar  Latm 


Bible.  The  aim  of  this  work 
^emg'for  the  more  easy  finding 
out  any  word  or  passage  in  the 
scriptures,  he  found  it  necessary 
to  divide  the  book  into  sections, 
and  the  sections  into  subdivisions  j 
for  till  that  time  the  vulgar  Latin 


Bibles  were  without  any  division 
at  all.  These  sections  are  the" 
chapters  into  which  the  Bible  hath 
ever  since  been  divided  ;  but  the 
subdivision  of  the  chapters  was 
not  then  into  verses,  asjt  is  now. 
Hugo's  method  of  subdivTdiiig 
them  was  by  the  letters  A,  B,  C, 


D,  E,  F,  G,  placed  in  the  mar- 
gin, at  ah  equal  distance  from 
each  other,  according  to  the  length 
of  the  chapters.  The  subdivision 
of  the  chapters  into  verses,  as  they 
now  stand  in  our  Bibles,  had  its 
original  from  a  famous  Jewish 
rabbi  named  Mordecai  Nathan, 
about  1445.  This  rabbi,  in  imi- 
tation of  Hugo  Cardinalis,  drew 
up  a  concordance  to  the  Hebrew 
Bible,  for  the  use  of  the  Jews. 
But  though  he  followed  Hugo  in 
his  division  of  the  books  into  chap- 
ters, he  refined  upon  his  inven- 
tions as  to  the  subdivision,  and 
contrived  that  by  verses  :  this  be- 
ing found  to  be  a  much  more  con- 
venient method,  it  has  been  ever 
since  followed.  And  thus,  as  the 
Jews  borrowed  the  division  of  the 
books  of  the  holy  scriptures  into 
chapters  from  the  christians,  in 
like  manner  the  christians  borrow- 
ed that  of  the  chapters  into  verses 
from  the  Jews.  The  present  order 
of  the  several  books  is  almost  the 
same  (the  Apocrypha  excepted)  as 
that  made  by  the  council  of  Trent. 
IV.  Bible,  rejected  Books  of. 
The  apocryphal  books  of  the  Old 
Testament,  according  to  the  Ro- 
manists, are  the  book  of  Enoch 
(see  Jude  xiv),  the  third  and 
fourth  books  of  Esdras,  the  third 
and  fourth  books  of  Maccabees, 
the  prayerof  Manasses,  the  Testa- 
ment of  the  twelve  Patriarchs, 
the  psa:lter  of  Solomon,  and  some 
other  pieces  of  this  nature.  The 
apocryphal  books  of  the  New 
Testament  are  the  epistle  of  St. 
Barnabas,  the  pretended  epistle 
of  St.  Paul  to  the  Laodiceans,  se- 
veral spurious  gospels.  Acts  of 
the  apostles,  and  Revelations ;  the 


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80 


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book  of  Hermas,  entitled  the 
Shepherd ;  Jesus  Christ^s  letter  to 
Abgarus  ;  the  epistles  of  St.  Paul 
to  Seneca,  and  several  other  pieces 
of  the  like  nature ;  as  may  be  seen 
in  the  collection  of  the  apocryphal 
writings  of  the  New  Testament 
made  by  Fabricus.  Protestants, 
while  they  agree  with  the  Roman 
catholics  in  rejecting  all  those  as 
uncanonical,  have  also  justly  re- 
jected the  books  of  Tobit,  Judith, 
Wisdom,  Ecclesiasticus,  Baruch, 
and  1st  and  2d  Maccabees. 

V.  Bible,  Translations  of. 
We  have  already  mentioned  the 
first  translation  of  the  Old  Testa- 
ment by  the  LXX.  (§  2.)  Both 
Old  and  New  Testaments  were 
afterwards  translated  into  Latin  by 
the  primitive  christians ;  and  while 
the  Roman  empire  subsisted  in 
Europe,  the  reading  of  the  scrip- 
tures in  the  Latin  tongue,  which 
was  the  universal  language  of  that 
empire,  prevailed  every  where ; 
but  since  the  face  of  affairs  in  Eu- 
rope has  been  changed,  and  so 
many  different  monarchies  erect- 
ed upon  the  ruins  of  the  Roman 
empire,  the  Latin  tongue  has 
by  degrees  grown  into  disuse ; 
whence  has  arisen  a  necessity  of 
translating  the  Bible  into  the  re- 
spective languages  of  each  people  ; 
and  this  has  produced  as  many 
different  versions  of  the  scriptures 
In  the  modern  languages  as  there 
are  different  nations  professing  the 
christian  religion.  Of  the  princi- 
pal of  these,  as  well  as  of  some 
other  ancient  translations,  and  the 
earliest  and  most  elegant  printed 
editions,  we  shall  now  take  notice 
in  their  order.  ^ 

1,  Viij&j^T.^  Armenian^  There  is 


a  very  ancient  Armenian  version 
of  the  whole  Bible  done  from 
the  Greek  of  the  LXX  by  some 
of  their  doctors,  about  the  time 
of  Chiysostom.  This  was  first 
printed  entire,  in  1664,  by  one 
of  their  bishops  at  Amsterdam, 
in  quarto,  with  the  New  Testa- 
ment in  octavo. 

2.  Bible,  Bohemian,  The  Bo- 
hemians have  a  Bible  translated 
by  eight  of  their  doctors,  whom 
they  had  sent  to  the  schools  of 
Wirtemberg  and  Basil  on  pur- 
pose to  study  the  original  lan- 
guages :  it  was  printed  in  Mora- 
via in  1539. 

3.  Bible,  Croatian.  A  trans- 
lation of  the  New  Testament  into 
the  Croatian  language  was  pub- 
lished by  Faber  Creim,  and  others, 
in  1562  and  1563. 

4.  Bible,  Gaelic.  A  few  years 
ago,  a  version  of  the  Bible  in  the 
Gaelic  or  Erse  language  was  pub- 
lished at  Edinburgh,  where  the 
gospel  is  preached  regularly  in 
that  language  in  two  chapels,  for 
the  benefit  of  the  natives  of  the 
Highlands. 

5.  Bible,  Georgian.  The  in- 
habitants of  Georgia^  in  Asia, 
have  long  had  a  translation  of  the 
Bible  in  their  ancient  language; 
but  that  language  having  now  be- 
come almost  obsolete,  and  the 
Georgians  in  general  being  very 
ignorant,  few  of  them  can  either 
read  or  understand  it. 

6.  Bible,  Gothic.  It  is  gene- 
rally said  that  Ulphilas,  a  Gothic 
bishop,  who  lived  in  the  fourth 
century,  made  a  version  of  the 
whole  Bible,  except  the  book  of 
Kings,  for  the  use  of  his  country- 
men ;  that  book  he  onjitted,  be- 


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81 


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cause  of  the  frequent  mention  of 
the  wars  therein,  as  fearing  to  in- 
spire too  much  of  the  military 
genius  into  that  people.  We  have 
nothing  remaining  of  this  version 
but  the  four  Evangelists,  printed 
in  quarto,  at  Doit,  in  1665,  from 
a  very  ancient  manuscript. 

7.  Bible,  Grison,  A  trans- 
lation of  the  Bible  into  the  lan- 
guage of  the  Grisons,  in  Italy,  was 
completed  by  Coir,  and  published 
in  1720. 

8.  Bible,  Icelandic.  The  inha- 
bitants of  Iceland  have  a  version 
of  the  Bible  in  their  language, 
which  was  translated  by  Thorlak, 
and  published  in  1584. 

9.  Bible,  Indian.  A  transla- 
tion of  the  Bible  into  the  North 
America  Indian  language,  by  El- 
liot, was  published  in  quarto,  at 
Cambridge,  in  1685. 

10.  Bible,  Irish.  About  the 
fiiiddle  of  the  sixteenth  century. 
Bedell,  bishop  of  Kilmore,  set  on 
foot  a  translation  of  the  Old 
Testament  into  the  Irish  lan- 
guage, the  New  Testament  and 
the  Liturgy  having  been  before 
translated  into  that  language : 
the  bishop  appointed  one  King  to 
execute  this  work,  who,  not  un- 
derstanding the  oriental  languages, 
was  obliged  to  translate  it  from  the 
English.  This  work  was  received 
by  Bedell,  who,  after  having  com- 
pared the  Irish  with  the  English 
translation,  compared  the  latter 
with  the  Hebrew,  the  LXX,  and 
the  Italian  version  of  Diodati. 
When  it  was  finished,  the  bishop 
would  have  been  himself  at  the 
charge  of  the  impression  ;  but  his 
design  was  stopped,  upon  advice 
given  to  the  lord  lieutenant  and 

Vol.  I.  M 


the  archbishop  of  Canterbury  that 
it  would  seem  a  shameful  thing  for 
a  nation  to  publish  a  Bible  trans- 
lated by  such  a  despicable  hand 
as  King:  however,  the  manuscript 
was  not  lost,  for  it  went  to  press 
in  1685,  and  was  afterwards  pub- 
lished. 

11.  Bible,  King  James's.  See 
No.  24. 

12.  Bible,  Malabrian.  In 
1711,  Messrs.  Ziegenbald  and 
Grindler,  two  Danish  missiona- 
ries, published  a  translation  of  the 
New  Testament  in  the  Malabrian 
language,  after  which  they  pro- 
ceeded to  translate  the  Old  Testa- 
ment. 

13.  Bible,  Malayan.  About 
1670,  Sir  Robert  Boyle  procured 
a  translation  of  the  New  Testa- 
ment into  the  Malayan  language, 
which  he  printed,  and  sent  the 
whole  impression  to  the  East  In- 
dies. 

14.  Bible,  Rhemish.  See  No. 
24. 

15.  Bible,  Samaritan.  At  the 
head  of  the  oriental  versions  of  the 
Bible  must  be  placed  the  Sama- 
ritan, as  being  the  most  ancient 
of  all  (though  neither  its  age 
nor  author  have  been  yet  ascer- 
tained), and  admitting  no  more 
for  the  holy  scripture  but  the  five 
books  of  Moses.  This  transla- 
tion is  made  from  the  Samaritan 
Hebrew  text,  which  is  a  little 
different  from  the  Hebrew  text  of 
the  Jews  :  this  version  has  never 
been  printed  alone,  nor  any  where 
but  in  the  Polyglots  of  London 
and  Paris. 

16.  Bible,  Sxvedish.  In  1534, 
Olaus  and  Laurence  published  a 
Swedish  Bible  from  the  German 


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82 


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version  of  Martin  Luther :  it  was  I 
revised  in  1617"  by  order  of  king 
Gustavus  Adolphus,  and  was  af- 
terwards  almost    universally  re- 
ceived. 

17.  Bible,   Ayiglo  Saxon. — If 
we  enquire  into   the  versions  of 
the  Bible  of  our  own  country,  we 
shall  find  that  Adelm,  bishop  of 
Sherburn,  who  lived  in  709,  made 
an  English  Saxon  version  of  the 
Psalms  ;     and    that    Edfrid,    or 
Ecbert,    bishop    of    Lindisferne, 
who  lived  about   730,  translated 
several  of  the  books  of  scripture 
into  the    same   language.      It   is 
said,like  wise,  that  venerable  Bede, 
who   died  in    785,  translated  the 
whole    Bible    into    Saxon. — But 
Cuthbert,  Bede's  disciple,  in  the 
enumeration  of  his  master's  works, 
speaks  only  of  his  translation  of 
the   gospel,  and  says  nothing  of 
the  rest  of  the  Bible,     Some  say 
that  king  Alfred,  who  lived  about 
890,    translated   a  great   part   of 
the  scriptures.     We  find  an  old 
version   in   the  Anglo   Saxon   of 
several  books  of  the  Bible,  made 
by  Elfric,  abbot  of  Malmesbury : 
it  was   published    at    Oxford   in 
1699.      There  is    an   old    Anglo 
Saxon  version   of   the  four   gos- 
pels, published  by  Matthew  Par- 
ker,   archbishop   of    Canterbury, 
in    1571,  the    author   whereof  is 
unknown.     Mr.    Mill     observes, 
that  this  version  Avas  made  from 
a  Latin  copy  of  the  old  Vulgate. 
The  whole  scripture   is  said   by 
some  to  have  been  translated  into 
the  Anglo  Saxon  by  Bede,  about 
701,    though  others   contend   he 
only  translated  the  gospels.     We 
have  certain  books  or  parts  of  the 
Bible  by  several  other  translators ; 


as,  first,  the  Psalms,  by  Adelm, 
bishop  of  Sherburn,  cotemporary* 
with  Bede,  though  by  others  this 
version  is  attributed  to  king  Al- 
fred, who  lived  two  hundred 
years  later.  Another  version  of 
the  Psalms,  in  Anglo  Saxon,  was 
published  by  Spelman  in  1640. — 
2.  The  evangelists,  still  extant, 
done  from  the  ancient  Vulgate, 
before  it  was  revised  by  St.  Jerome, 
by  an  author  unknown,  and  pub- 
lished by  Matthew  Parker  in  1571. 
An  old  Saxon  version  of  several 
books  of  the  Bible  made  by  Elfric, 
abbot  of  Malmesbury,  several 
fragments  of  which  were  publish- 
ed by  Will.  Lilly,  1638  ;  the  ge- 
nuine copy  by  Edm.  Thwaites,  in 
1699,  at  Oxford. 

18.  Bibles,  Arabic.  In  1516, 
Aug.  Justinian,  bishop  of  Nebio, 
printed  at  Genoa  an  Arabic  ver- 
sion of  the  Psalter,  with  the  He- 
brew text  and  Chaldee  paraphrase, 
adding  Latin  interpretations :  there 
are  also  Arabic  versions  of  the 
whole  scripture  in  the  Polyglots 
of  London  and  Paris ;  and  we  have 
an  edition  of  the  Old  Testament 
entire,  printed  at  Rome,  in  1671, 
by  order  of  the  congregation  de 
propaganda  jide  ;  but  it  is  of  little 
esteem,  as  having  been  altered 
agreeably  to  the  Vulgate  edition. 
The  Arabic  Bibles  among  us  are 
not  the  same  with  those  used  with 
the  christians  in  the:  East.  Some 
learned  men  take  the  Arabic  ver- 
sion of  the  Old  Testament  printed 
in  the  Polyglots  to  be  that  of 
Saadias's,  who  lived  about  A.  D. 
900:  their  reason  is,  that  Aben 
Ezra,  a  great  antagonist  of  Saa- 
dias,  quotes  some  passages  of  his 
version,  which  are  the  same  with 


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83 


BI  B 


those  in  the  Arabic  version  of  the 
Polyglots  ',  yet  others  are  of  opi- 
nion that  Saadias's  version  is  not 
extant.  In  1622,  Erpenius  print- 
ed an  Arabic  Pentateuch,  called 
also  the  Pentateuch  of  Maurita- 
nia, as  being  made  by  the  Jews  of 
Barbary,  and  for  their  use.  This 
version  is  very  literal,  and  es- 
teemed very  exactl  The  four 
evangelists  have  also  been  pub- 
lished in  Arabic,  with  a  Latin 
version,  at  Rome,  in  1591,  folio. 
These  have  been  since  reprinted 
in  the  Polyglots  of  London  and 
Paris,  with  some  little  alteration 
of  Gabriel  Sionita.  Erpenius  pub- 
lished an  Arabic  New  Testament 
entire,  as  he  found  it  in  his  manu- 
script copy,  at  Leyden,  1616. 
There  are  some  other  Arabic  ver- 
sions of  later  date  mentioned  by 
Walton  in  his  Prolegomena,  par- 
ticularly a  version  of  the  Psalms, 
preserved  at  Sion  College,  London, 
and  another  of  the  prophets  at 
Oxford  J  neither  of  which  have 
been  published.  Proposals  were 
issued  for  printing  a  new  edition 
of  the  Arabic  Bible,  by  Mr.  Car- 
lylcj  chancellor  of  the  diocese  of 
Carlisle,  and  professor  of  Arabic 
in  the  university  of  Cambridge  ; 
but  I  am  sorry  to  add  that  he  has 
been  called  away  by  death,  with- 
out finishing  it. 

19.  Bibles,  Chaldee,  are  only 
the  glosses  or  expositions  made 
by  the  Jews  at  the  time  when  they 
spoke  the  Chaldee  tongue  :  these 
they  call  by  the  name  of  targu- 
mim,  or  paraphrases,  as  not  being 
any  strict  version  of  the  scripture. 
They  have  been  inserted  entire  in 
the  large  Hebrew  Bibles  of  Ve- 
nice and  Basil ;  but  are  read  more 
commodiously  in  the  Polyglots, 


being  there  attended  with  a  Latin 
translation. 

20.  Bibles,  Coptic.  There  are 
several  manuscript  copies  of  the 
Coptic  Bible  in  some  of  the  great 
libraries,  especially  in  that  of  the 
late  French  king.  Dr.  Wilkins 
published  the  Coptic  New  Testa- 
ment, in  quarto,  in  1716  j  and 
the  Pentateuch  also,  in  quarto,  in 
1731 ;  with  Latin  translations. 
He  reckons  these  versions  to  have 
been  made  in  the  end  of  the  se- 
cond or  the  beginning  of  the  third 
century. 

21.  Bibles,  Danish.  The  first 
Danish  Bible  was  published  by  Pe- 
ter Palladus,  Olaus  Chrysostom, 
John  Synningius,  and  John  Mac- 
cabseus,  in  1550,  in  which  they 
followed  Luther's  first  German 
version.  There  are  two  other  ver- 
sions, the  one  by  John  Paul  Re- 
senius,  bishop  of  Zaeland,  in  1605; 
the  other  of  the  New  Testament 
only,  by  John  Michel,  in  1524. 

22.  Bibles,  Dutch.  See  No.  26. 

23.  Bibles,  East  Indian.  See 
No.  12,  13,  44. 

24.  Bibles,  English.  The  first 
English  Bible  we  read  of  was  that 
translated  .by  J.  Wickliffe,  about 
the  year  1360,  but  never  printed, 
though  there  are  manuscript  co- 
pies of  it  in  several  of  the  pub- 
lic libraries.  A  translation,  how- 
ever, of  the  New  Testament  by 
WickliiFe  was  printed  by  Mr. 
Lewis,  about  1731.  J.  de  Tre^ 
visa,  who  died  about  1398,  is  al- 
so said  to  have  translated  the 
whole  Bible  ;  but  whether  any 
copies  of  it  are  remaining  does 
not  appear.  The  first  printed  Bible 
in  our  language  was  that  translat- 
ed by  W.  Tindal,  assisted  by 
Miles  Coverdale,  printed  abroad 


BIB 


84 


B  IB 


in  1526  ;  but  most  of  the   copies 
were  bought  up   and    burnt    by 
bishop  Tunstal  and    Sir  Thomas 
Moore.     It  only    contained    the 
New  Testament,  and  was  revised 
and  republished  by  the  same  per- 
son in   1530.  The  prologues  and 
prefaces  added  to  it,  reflect  on  the 
bishops  and  clergy  ;  but  this  edi- 
tion was  also  suppressed,  and  the 
copies  burnt.      In    1532,    Tindal 
and  his    associates    finished    the 
whole  Bible,  except  the  Apocry- 
pha, and  printed  it  abroad ;  but, 
while  he  was  afterwards  preparing 
a  second  edition,  he  was  taken  up 
and  burnt  for  heresy  in  Flanders. 
On  Tindal's  death,  his  work  was 
carried  on  by  Coverdale,  and  John 
Rogers,  superintendent  of  an  Eng- 
lish church  in  Germany,  and  the 
first  martyr,  in  the  reign  of  queen 
Mary,  who  translated  the    Apo- 
crypha, and  revised  Tindal's  tran- 
slation, comparing  it  with  the  He- 
brew, Greek,  Latin,  and  German, 
and  adding    prefaces    and    notes 
from  Luther's   Bible.     He  dedi- 
cated the  whole  to  Henry  VIII,  in 
1537,  under  the  borrowed  name  of 
Thomas    P/Iathews ;  whence  this 
has  been  usually  called  Mathews's 
Bible.    It  was   printed  at  Ham- 
burg, and   licence    obtained    for 
publishing  it  in  England,  by  the 
favour  of  arch-bishop    Cranmer, 
and  the  bishops  Latimer  and  Shax- 
ton.     The   first  Bible  printed  by 
authority  in  England,  and  public- 
ly set  up   in  churches,    was   the 
same  Tindal's  version,  i-evised  and 
compared  with  the  Hebrew,  and 
in  many  places  amended  by  Miles 
Coverdale,  afterwards  bishop   of 
Exeter  ;  and  examined  after  him 
by  aixhbishop  Cranmer,  who  ad- 


ded a  preface  to  it ;  whence  this 
was  called  Cranmer's  Bible.  It 
was  printed  by  Grafton,  of  the 
largest  volume,  and  published  in 
1540  ;  and,  by  a  royal  proclama- 
tion, every  parish  was  obliged  to 
set  one  of  the  copies  in  their 
church,  under  the  penalty  of  forty 
shillings  a  month  ;  yet,  two  years 
after,  the  popish  bishops  obtained'' 
its  suppression  by  the  king.  It 
was  restored  under  Edward  VI, 
suppressed  again  under  queen  Ma- 
ry's reign,  and  restored  again  in 
the  first  year  of  queen  Elizabeth, 
and  a  new  edition  of  it  given  in 
1562.  Some  English  exiles  at 
Geneva,  in  queen  Mary's  reign, 
viz.  Coverdale,  Goodman,  Gilbie, 
Sampson,  Cole,  Wittingham,  and 
Knox,  made  a  new  translation, 
printed  there  in  1560,  the  New 
Testament  having  been  printed 
in  1557;  hence  called  the  Ge- 
neva Bible,  containing  the  va- 
riations of  readings,  marginal  an- 
notations, &c.  on  account  of  whioh 
it  was  much  valued  by  the  puritan 
party  in  that  and  the  following 
reigns.  Abp.  Parker  resolved  on 
a  new  translation  for  the  public 
use  of  the  church ;  and  engaged 
the  bishops,  and  other  learned 
men,  to  take  each  a  share  or  por- 
tion :  these,  being  afterwards 
joined  together  and  printed,  with 
short  annotations,  in  1568,  in 
large  folio,  made  what  was  af- 
terwards called  the  Great  English 
Bible,  and  commonly  the  Bishops, 
Bible.  In  1589,  it  was  also  pub- 
lished in  octavo,  in  a  small  but 
fine  black  letter;  and  here  the 
chapters  were  divided  into  verses, 
but  without  any  breaks  for  them, 
in  which  the  method  of  the  Gene- 


BIB 


85 


BIB 


va  Bible  was  followed,  which  was 
the  first  English  Bible  where  any 
distinction  of  verses  was  made. 
It  was  afterwards  printed  in  large 
folio,  with  corrections,   and  seve- 
ral prolegomena,  in  1572  :  this  is 
called    Matthew  Parker's   Bible. 
The  initial  letters   of  each   tran- 
slator's name  were  put  at  the  end 
of  his  part ;  e.  g-r.  at  the  end  of  the 
Pentateuch,  W.  E.    for  William 
Exon ;  that  is,  William,  bishop  of 
Exeter,    whose   allotment   ended 
there  :  at  the  end  of  Samuel,  R. 
M.  for  Richard  Menevensis  ;  or 
bishop  of  St.    David's,  to  whom 
the  second  allotment  fell :  and  the 
like  of  the  rest. .    The  archbishop 
oversaw,  directed,  examined,  and 
finished  the  whole.     This  trans- 
lation was  used  in  the  churches 
for  forty  years,  though  the  Ge- 
neva Bible  was  more  read  in  pri- 
vate houses,  being  printed  above 
twenty  times  in   as  many  years. 
King  James  bore  it  an  inveterate 
hatred,  on  account  of  the  notes, 
which,    at    the    Hampton   Court 
conference,  he  charged  as  partial, 
untrue,  seditious,  &c.     The   Bi- 
shops' Bible,  too,  had  its  faults. 
The  king  frankly  owned  that  he 
had  seen  no  good  translation  of 
the    Bible    in    English ;    but   he 
thought  that  of  Geneva  the  worst 
of  all.     After  the  translation  of 
the    Bible  by   the   bishops,    two 
other  private   versions  had  been 
made    of   the   New   Testament; 
the  first  by  Laurence  Thompson, 
from  Beza's  Latin  edition,  with 
the  notes  of  Beza,  published  in 
1582,  in  quano,    and  afterwards 
in  1589,  varying  very  little  from 
the  Geneva  Bible  ;  the  second  by 
by  the  Papists  at  Rheims,  in  1584, 


called  the  Rhemish  Bible,  or  Rhe- 
mish  translation.     These,  finding 
it  impossible  to  keep  the  people 
from  having  the  scriptures  in  their 
vulgar  tongue,  resolved  to  give  a 
version  of  their  own,  as  favour- 
able to  their  cause  as  might  be.  It 
was  printed  on  a  large  paper,  with 
a  fair  letter  and  margin :  one  com- 
plaint against  it  was,  its  retaining 
a  multitude  of  Hebrew  and  Greek 
words  untranslated,  for  want,  as 
the  editors  express  it,  of  proper 
and  adequate  terms  in  the  Eng- 
lish to  render  them  by  ;  as   the 
words  azymes^    tunike^  holocaust^ 
prepuce^   pasche,    &c. :  however, 
many  of  the  copies  were  seized  by 
the  queen's  searchers,  and  confis- 
cated;   and   Thomas   Cartwright 
was  solicited  by  secretary  Wal- 
singham  to  refute  it ;  but,  after  a 
good  progress  made  therein,  arch- 
bishop Whitgift  prohibited  his  fur- 
ther proceeding,  as  judging  it  im- 
proper that  the   doctrine  of  the 
church  of  England  should  be  com- 
mitted to  the  defence  of  a  puritan; 
and  appointed  Dr.   Fulke  in  his 
place,  who  refuted  the  Rhemists 
with   great   spirit    and    learning. 
Cartwright's  refutation  was  also 
afterwards  published  in  1618,  un- 
der archbishop   Abbot.      About 
thirty  years  after  their  New  Tes- 
tament, the  Roman  catholic  pub- 
lished a  translation  of  the  Old  at 
Douay,  1609  and  1610,  from  the 
Vulgate,  with  annotations,  so  that 
the  English  Roman  catholics  have 
now  the    whole    Bible    in    their 
mother  tongue ;  though,  it  is  to 
be    observed,    they    are    forbid- 
den to  read  it  without  a  licence 
from  their  superiors.     The   last 
English    Bible   was   that   which 


BIB 


86 


BIB 


proceeded    from    the    Hampton 
Court  conference,  in  1603 ;  where, 
many  exceptions  being  made  to 
the   Bishops'  Bible,  king  James 
gave  order  for  a  new  one  ;  not,  as 
the   preface   expresses   it,    for   a 
translation  altogether  new,  nor  yet 
to  make  a  good  one  better  j  or,  of 
many  good  ones,  one  best.   Fifty- 
four  learned  men  were  appointed 
to  this  office  by  the  king,  as  ap- 
pears by  his  letter  to  the  archbi- 
shop,  dated   1604;   which   being 
three  years  before  the  translation 
was  entered  upon,  it  is  probable 
seven  of  them  were  either  dead,  or 
had  declined  the  task  ;   since  Ful- 
ler's list  of  the  translators  makes 
bvxt  forty-seven,  who,  being  ranged 
under   six   divisions,  entered   on 
their  province  in   1607.     It  was 
published  in  1613,  Avith  a  dedica- 
tion to  James,  and  a  learned  pre- 
face; and  is  commonly  called  king 
James's  Bible.    After  this,  all  the 
other  versions   dropped,  and  fell 
into  disuse,  except  the  epistles  and 
gospels   in   the  Common  Prayer 
Book,  which  were  still  continued 
according  to  the  Bishops'  transla- 
tion till  the   alteration  of  the  li- 
turgy, in  1661,  and  the  psalms  and 
hymns,  which  are  to  this  day  con- 
tinued as  in  the  old  version.    The 
judicious Selden,  in  his  Table-talk, 
speaking  of  the  Bible,  says,  "  The 
English  translation  of  the  Bible  is 
the  best  translation  in  the  world, 
and  renders  the  sense  of  the  ori- 
ginal best ;  taking  in  for  the  Eng- 
lish translation  the  Bishops'  Bible, 
as  well  as  king  James's.  The  trans- 
lators in  king  James's  time  took 
an  excellent  Avay.     That  part  of 
the  Bible  Avas  given  to  him  Avho 


was  most  excellent  in  such  a  tongue 
(as  the  Apocrypha  to  AndreAV 
Downs) :  and  then  they  met  to- 
gether, and  one  read  the  transla- 
tion, the  rest  holding  in  their  hands 
some  Bible,  either  of  the  learned 
tongues,  or  French,  Spanish,  or 
Italian,  &c.  If  they  found  any 
fault,  they  spoke ;  if  not,  he  read 
on."  [King  James's  Bible  is  that 
noAv  read  by  authority  in  all  the 
churches  in  Britain.]  Notwith- 
standing, hoA^'^ever,  the  excellency 
of  this  translation,  it  must  be  ac- 
knoAvledged  that  our  increasing 
acquaintance  Avith  oriental  customs 
and  manners,  and  the  changes  our 
language  has  undergone  since  king 
James's  time,  are  very  powerful 
arguments  for  a  ncAv  translation, 
or  at  least  a  connection  of  the  old 
one.  There  have  been  various 
English  Bibles  with  marginal  re- 
ferences by  Canne,  Hayes,  Bar- 
ker, Scattergood,  Field,  Tennison, 
Lloyd,  Blayney,  Wilson,  &:c.;  but 
the  best  Ave  have,  perhaps,  of  this 
kind,  are  BroAvn's  and  Scott's. 

25.  Bibles,  Ethiopic.  The 
Ethiopians  have  also  translated 
the  Bible  into  their  language. 
There  have  been  printed  separate- 
ly the  Psalms,  Canticles,  some 
chapters  of  Genesis,  Ruth,  Joel, 
Jonah,  Zephaniah,  Malachi,  and 
the  New  Testament,  all  Avhich 
have  been  since  reprinted  in  the 
Polyglot  of  London.  As  to  the 
Ethiopic  NcAV  Testament,  Avhich 
was  first  printed  at  Rome  in  1548, 
it  is  a  very  inaccurate  Avork,  and 
is  reprinted  in  the  English  Poly- 
glot Avith  all  its  faults. 

26.  Bibles,  Flemish.  The  Fle- 
mish Bibles  of  the  Romanists  are 


BIB 


87 


BIB 


very  numerous,  and  for  the  most 
part  have  no  author's  name  pre- 
fixed to  them,  till  that  of  Nicho- 
las Vinck,  printed  at  Louvain  in 
1548.  The  Flemish  versions  made 
use  of  by  the  Calvinists  till  163/ 
were  copied  principally  from  that 
of  Luther.  But  the  synod  of  Dort 
having,  in  1618,  appointed  a  new 
translation  of  the  Biblfe  into  Fle- 
mish, deputies  were  named  for 
the  work,  which  was  not  finished 
till  163/. 

2/.  Bibles,  French.  The  old- 
est French  Bible  we  hear  of  is  the 
version  of  Peter  de  Vaux,  chief 
of  the  Waldenses,  who  lived  about 
the  year  1160.  Raoul  de  Presle 
translated  the  Bible  into  French 
In  the  reign  of  king  Charles  V,  of 
France,  about  A.  D.  1380.  Be- 
sides these,  there  are  several  old 
French  translations  of  particular 
parts  of  the  scripture.  The  doc- 
tors of  Louvain  published  the  Bi- 
ble in  French  at  Louvain,  by  or- 
der of  the  emperor  Charles  V,  in 
1550.  There  is  aversion  by  Isaac 
le  Maitre  de  Sacy,  published  in 
16/2,  with  explanations  of  the  li- 
teral and  spiritual  meaning  of  the 
text ;  which  was  received  with 
wonderful  applause,  and  has  often 
been  reprinted.  Of  the  New  Testa- 
ments in  French,  which  have  been 
printed  separately,  one  of  the  most 
remarkable  is  that  of  F.  Amelotte, 
of  the  Oratory,  composed  by  the 
direction  of  some  French  prelates, 
and  printed  with  annotations  in 
1666,  166/,  and  16/0.  The  au- 
thor pretends  he  had  searched  all 
the  libraries  in  Europe,  and  col- 
lated the  oldest  manuscripts  ;  but, 
in  examining  his  work,  it  appears 
that  he  has  produced  no  consider- 


able various  readings  which  had 
not  before  been  taken  notice  of 
either  in  the  London  Polyglot,  or 
elsewhere.  The  New  Testament 
of  Mons,  printed  in  1665,  with 
the  archbishop  of  Cambray's  per- 
mission, and  the  king  of  Spain's 
licence,  made  great  noise  in  the 
world.  It  was  condemned  by 
pope  Clement  IX,  in  1668;  by 
pope  Innocent  XI,  in  1669 ;  and 
in  several  bishoprics  of  France  at 
several  times.  The  New  Testa- 
ment, published  at  Trevoux,  in 
1/02,  by  M.  Simon,  with  literal 
and  critical  annotations  upon  dif- 
ficult passages,  was  condemned  by 
the  bishops  of  Paris  and  Meaux  in 
1/02.  F.  Bohours,  a  Jesuit,  with 
the  assistance  of  F.  F.  Michael 
Tellier  and  Peter  Bernier*,  Jesuits, 
likewise  published  a  translation  of 
the  New  Testament  in  169/  ;  but 
this  translation  is  for  the  most  part 
harsh  and  obscure,  which  was  ow- 
ing to  the  author's  adhering  too 
strictly  to  the  Latin  text.  There 
are  likewise  French  translations 
published  by  Protestant  authors: 
one  by  Robert  Peter  Olivetan, 
printed  in  1535,  and  often  reprint- 
ed with  the  corrections  of  John 
Calvin  and  others  ;  another  by  Se- 
bastian Castalio,  remarkable  for 
particular  ways  of  expression  never 
used  by  good  judges  of  the  lan- 
guage. John  Diodati  likewise  pub- 
lished a  French  Bible  at  Geneva 
in  1 644  ;  but  some  find  fault  with 
his  method,  in  that  he  rather  pa- 
raphrases the  text  than  translates 
it.  Faber  Stapalensis  translated 
the  New  Testament  into  French, 
which  was  revised  and  accommo- 
dated to  the  use  of  the  reformed 
churches  in  Piedmont,  and  print- 


BIB 


88 


BIB 


ed  in  1534.  Lastly,  John  le  Clerc 
published  a  New  Testament  in 
French  at  Amsterdam,  in  1703, 
with  annotations  taken  chiefly 
from  Grotius  and  Hammond  ;  but 
the  use  of  this  version  was  pro- 
hibited by  order  of  the  states-gene- 
ral, as  tending  to  revive  the  errors 
of  Sabellius  and  Socinus. 

21.  Bibles,  Gernian.  The 
first  and  most  ancient  translation 
of  the  Bible  in  the  German  lan- 
guage is  that  of  Ulphilas,  bishop 
of  the  Goths,  in  the  year  360. 
An  imperfect  manuscript  of  this 
version  was  found  in  the  abbey  of 
Verden,  near  Cologne,  written  in 
letters  of  silver,  for  which  reason 
it  is  called  Codex  Argenteus  ;  and 
it  was  published  by  Francis  Ju- 
nius in  1665.  The  oldest  German 
printed  Bible  extant  is  that  of 
Nuremburg,  in  1447 ;  but  v/ho 
was  the  author  of  it  is  uncertain. 
John  Emzer,  chaplain  to  George 
duke  of  Saxony,  published  a  ver- 
sion of  the  New  Testament  in  op- 
position to  Luther.  There  is  a 
German  Bible  of  John  Ekeus,  in 
1537,  with  Emzer's  New  Testa- 
ment added  to  it ;  and  one  by 
Ulemburgius  of  Westphalia,  pro- 
cured by  Ferdinand  duke  of  Ba- 
varia, and  printed  in  1630.  Mar- 
tin Luther  having  employed  ele- 
ven years  in  translating  the  Old 
and  New  Testaments,  published 
the  Pentateuch  and  the  New  Tes- 
tament in  1522,  the  historical 
books  and  the  Psalms  in  1524,  the 
books  of  Solomon  in  1527,  Isaiah 
in  1529,  the  Prophets  in  1531,  and 
the  other  books  in  1530.  The 
learned  agree  that  his  language  is 
pure,  and  the  version  clear  and 
free  from  intricacies.     It  was  re- 


vised by  several  persons  of  quali- 
ty, who  were  masters  of  all  the 
delicacies  of  the  German  language. 
The  German  Bibles  which  have 
been  printed  at  Saxony,  Switzer- 
land, and  elsewhere,  are,  for  the 
most  part,  the  same  as  that  of 
Luther,  with  little  variation.  In 
1604,  John  Piscator  published  a 
version  of  the  Bible  in  German, 
taken  from  that  of  Junius  and 
Tremellius ;  but  his  turn  of  ex- 
pression is  purely  Latin,  and  not 
at  all  agreeable  to  the  genius  of 
the  German  language.  The  Ana- 
baptists have  a  German  Bible 
printed  at  Worms  in  1529.  John 
Crellius  published  his  version  of 
the  New  Testament  at  Racovia  in 
1630,  and  Felbinger  his  at  Am- 
sterdam in  1660. 

29.  Bibles,  Greek.  There  is 
a  great  number  of  editions  of 
the  Bible  in  Greek,  but  they  may 
be  all  reduced  to  three  or  four 
principal  ones  ;  viz.  that  of  Com- 
plutum,  or  Alcala  de  Henares ; 
that  of  Venice,  that  of  Rome, 
and  that  of  Oxford.  The  first 
was  published  in  1515  by  cardi- 
nal Ximenes,  and  inserted  in  the 
Polyglot  Bible,  usually  called  the 
Complutensian  Bible :  this  edition 
is  not  just,  the  Greek  of  the  LXX 
being  altered  in  many  places  ac- 
cording to  the  Hebrew  text.  .  It 
has,  however,  been  reprinted  in 
the  Polyglot  Bible  of  Antwerp,  in 
that  of  Paris,  and  in  the  quarto 
Bible  commonly  called  Vatablus's 
Bible.  The  second  Greek  Bible 
is  that  of  Venice,  printed  by  Aldus 
in  1518.  Here  the  Greek  text 
of  the  Septuagint  is  reprinted  just 
as  it  stood  in  the  manuscript, 
full  of  faults  of  the  copyists,  but 


BIB 


89 


BIB 


easily  amended.  This  edition 
was  reprinted  at  Strasburg  in  1526, 
at  Basil  in  1545,  at  Frankfort  m 
1597,  and  other  places,  with  some 
alterations,  to  bring  it  nearer  the 
Hebrew.  The  most  commodious 
is  that  of  Frankfort,  there  being 
added  to  this  little  scholia^  which 
shew  the  different  interpretations 
of  the  old  Greek  translators.  The 
author  of  this  collection  has  not 
added  his  name,  but  it  is  com- 
monly ascribed  to  Junius.  The 
third  Greek  Bible  is  that  of  Rome, 
or  the  Vatican,  in  1587,  with 
Greek  scholia^  collected  from  the 
manuscripts  in  the  Roman  libra- 
ries by  Peter  Morin.  It  was  fii'st 
set  on  foot  by  cardinal  Montalbo, 
afterwards  pope  Sixtus  V.  This 
fine  edition  has  been  reprinted  at 
Paris  in  1628,  by  J.  Morin,  priest 
of  the  Oratory,  who  has  added  the 
Latin  translation,  which  in  the 
Roman  was  printed  separately 
with  scholia.  The  Greek  edition 
of  Rome  has  been  printed  in  the 
Polyglot  Bible  of  London,  to 
which  are  added  at  the  bottom  the 
various  readings  of  the  Alexan- 
drian manuscript.  This  has  been 
also  reprinted  in  England,  in  4to 
and  12mo,  with  some  alterations. 
It  was  again  published  at  Frane- 
ker,  in  1709,  by  Bos,  who  has 
added  all  the  various  readings  he 
could  find.  The  fourth  Greek 
Bible  is  that  done  from  the  Alex- 
andrian manuscript,  begun  at  Ox- 
ford by  Grabe  in  1707.  In  this 
the  Alexandrian  manuscript  is  not 
printed  such  as  it  is,  but  such  as 
it  was  thought  it  should  be^  i.  e. 
it  is  altered  wherever  there  ap- 
peared any  fault  of  the  copyists, 
or  any  word  inserted  from  any 
Vol.  L  N 


particular  dialect :  this  some  think 
an  excellence,  but  others  a  fault, 
urging  that  the  manuscript  should 
have  been  given  absolutely  and 
entirely  of  itself,  and  all  conjec- 
tures as  to  the  readings  should 
have  been  thrown  into  the  notes.' 
We  have  many  editions  of  the 
Greek  Testament  by  Erasmus, 
Stephens,  Beza  ;  that  in  the  Com- 
plutensian  Polyglot,  the  Elzevirs, 
&c. ;  and  with  various  readings  by 
Mill,  Bengelius,  Wetstein,  See. 
That  of  Wetstein  is  thought  by 
some  to  exceed  all  the  rest. 

30.  Bibles,  Hebrew^  are  either 
manuscript  or  printed.  The  best 
ffianuscript  Bibles  are  those  copied 
by  the  Jews  of  Spain  :  those  copi- 
ed by  the  Jews  of  Germany  are 
less  exact,  but  more  common. 
The  two  kinds  are  easily  distin- 
guished from  each  other  ;  the  for- 
mer being  in  beautiful  characters, 
like  the  Hebrew  Bibles  of  Bom- 
berg,  Stevens,  and  Plantin  ;  the 
latter  in  characters  like  those  of 
Munster  and  Gryphius.  F.  Si- 
mon observes,  that  the  oldest 
manuscript  Hebi'ew  Bibles  are  not 
above  six  or  seven  hundred  years 
old ;  nor  does  rabbi  Menaham, 
who  quotes  a  vast  number  of  them, 
pretend  that  any  one  of  them  ex- 
ceeds 600  years.  Dr.  Kennicott, 
in  his  Dissertatio  Generalis,  pre- 
fixed to  his  Hebrew  Bible,  p.  21, 
observes,  that  the  most  ancient 
manuscripts  were  written  between 
the  years  900  and  1100;  but 
though  those  that  are  the  most 
ancient  are  not  more  than  800  or 
900  years  old,  they  were  trans- 
cribed from  others  of  a  much 
more  ancient  date.  The  manu- 
script preserved  in  the  Bodleian 


BIB 


90 


BIB 


Library  is  not  less  than  800  years 
old.  Another  manuscript  not  less 
ancient  is  preserved  in  the  Caesa- 
rian Library  at  Vienna.  The 
niost  ancient  printed  Hebrew  Bi- 
bles are  those  published  by  the 
Jewsof  Italy,  especially  of  Pesaro 
and  Bresse.  Those  of  Portugal 
also  printed  some  parts  of  the  Bi- 
ble at  Lisbon  before  their  expul- 
sion. This  may  be  observed  in 
general,  that  the  best  Hebrew  Bi- 
bles are  those  printed  under  the 
inspection  of  the  Jews  ;  there  be- 
ing so  many  minutiae  to  be  ob- 
.served  in  the  Hebrew  language, 
that  it  is  scarcely  possible  for  any 
other  to  succeed  in  it.  In  the 
beginning  of  the  16th  century, 
Dan  Bomberg  printed  several  He- 
brew Bibles  in  folio  and  quarto  at 
Venice,  most  of  which  were  es- 
teemed both  by  the  Jews  and 
christians:  the  first  in  151 5^,  which 
is  the  least  exact,  and  generally 
goes  by  the  name  of  Felix  Praten- 
sis,  the  person  who  revised  it : 
this  edition  contains  the  Hebrew 
text,  the  Targum,  and  the  com- 
mentaries of  several  rabbins.  In 
1528,  Bomberg  printed  the  folio 
Bible  of  rabbi  Benchajim,  with 
his  preface,  the  masoretical  divi- 
sions, a  preface  of  Aben  Ezra,  a 
double  masora,  and  several  vari- 
ous readings.  The  third  edition 
was  printed,  in  1618,  the  same 
with  the  second,  but  much  more 
correct.  From  the  former  edi- 
tions, Baxtorf,  the  father,  print- 
ed his  rabbinical  Hebrew  Bible  at 
Basil,  in  1618;  which  though 
there  are  many  faults  in  it,  is 
more  correct  than  any  of  the  for- 
mer. In  1623,  appeared  at  Venice 
a  new  edition  of  the  rabbinical 


Bible,  by  Leo  of  Modena,  a  rab- 
bin of  that  city,  who  pretended  to 
have  corrected  a  great  number  of 
faults  in  the  former  edition  ;  bu»t, 
besides  that,  it  is  much  inferior  to 
the  other  Hebrew  Bibles  of  Ve- 
nice, with  regard  to  paper  and 
print :  it  has  passed  through  the 
hands  of  the  inquisitors,  who  have 
altered  many  passages  in  the  com- 
mentaries of  the  rabbins.  Of  He- 
brew Bibles  in  quarto,  that  of  R. 
Stevens  is  esteemed  for  the  beau- 
ty of  the  characters  ;  but  it  is  very 
incorrect.  Plantin  also  printed 
several  beautiful  Hebrew  Bibles 
at  Antwerp ;  one  in  eight  columns, 
with  a  preface  by  Arias  Monta- 
nus,  in  1571,  which  far  exceeds 
the  Complutensian  in  paper,  print, 
and  contents;  this  is  called  the 
Royal  Bible,  because  it  was  print- 
ed at  the  expence  of  Philip  II, 
king  of  Spain :  another  at  Geneva, 
in  1619,  besides  many  more  of 
different  sizes,  with  and  without 
points.  Manasseh  Ben  Israel,  a 
learned  Portuguese  Jew,  publish- 
ed two  editions  of  the  Hebrew 
Bible  at  Amsterdam ;  one  in 
quarto,  in  i635  ;  the  other  in  oc- 
tavo, in  1639:  the  first  has  two 
columns,  and  for  that  reason  is 
more  commodious  for  the  reader. 
In  1639,  R.  Jac.  Lombroso  pub- 
lished a  new  edition  in  quarto  at 
Venice,  with  small  literal  notes 
at  the  bottom  of  each  page,  where 
he  explains  the  Hebrew  words  by 
Spanish  words.  This  Bible  is 
much  esteemed  by  the  Jews  at 
Constantinople  :  in  the  text  they 
have  distinguished  between  words 
where  the  point  comets  is  to  be 
read  with  a  camets  katuphi  that  is, 
by  0,  and  not  an  a.     Of  all   the 


BIB 


91 


BIB 


editions  of  the  Hebrew  Bible  in 
octavo,  the  most  beautiful  and 
correct  are  the  two  of  J.  Athias, 
a  Jew,  of  Amsterdam.  The  first, 
of  1661,  is  the  best  paper;  but 
that  of  1657  is  the  most  exact. 
That,  however,  published  since  at 
Amsterdam,  by  Vander  Hooght, 
in  1705,  is  preferable  to  both. 
After  Athias,  three  Hebraizing 
Protestants  engaged  in  revising 
and  publishing  the  Hebrew  Bible, 
viz.  Clodius,  Jablonski,  and  Opi- 
tius.  Clodius's  edition  was  pub- 
lished at  Frankfort,  in  1677,  in 
quarto  :  at  the  bottom  of  the  pages 
it  has  the  various  readings  of  the 
former  editions  ;  but  the  author 
does  not  appear  sufficiently  versed 
in  the  accenting,  especially  in  the 
poetical  books;  besides,  as  it  was 
not  published  under  his  eye,  many 
faults  have  crept  in.  That  of  Ja- 
blonski, in  1699,  in  quarto,  at 
Berlin,  is  very  beautiful  as  to  let- 
ter and  print ;  but,  though  the 
editor  pretends  he  made  use  of  the 
editions  of  Athias  and  Clodius, 
some  critics  find  it  scarcely  in  any 
thing  different  from  the  quarto 
edition  of  Bomberg.  That  of 
Opitius  is  also  in  quarto,  at  Keil, 
in  1709:  the  character  is  large 
and  good,  but  the  paper  bad  : 
it  is  done  with  a  great  deal  of 
care  ;  but  the  editor  made  use  of 
no  manuscripts  but  those  of  the 
German  libraries,  neglecting  the 
French  ones,  which  is  an  omission 
common  to  all  the  three.  They 
have  this  advantage,  however, 
that,  besides  the  divisions  used 
by  the  Jews,  both  general  and 
particular,  into  paraskes  and  pe- 
suk'im^  they  have  also  those  of 
the  chf  istians,  or  of  the  Latin  Bi- 


bles, into  chapters  and  verses ; 
the  keri  ketib^  or  various  readings, 
Latin  summaries,  &c.  which  made 
them  of  considerable  use  with  res- 
pect to  the  Latin  editions  and  the 
concordances.  The  little  Bible 
of  R.  Stevens,  in  16mo,  is  veiy 
much  prized  for  the  beauty  of  the 
character.  Care,  however,  must 
be  taken,  there  being  another  edi- 
tion of  Geneva  exceedingly  like  it, 
excepting  that  the  print  is  worse, 
and  the  text  less  correct.  To 
these  may  be  added  some  other^ 
Hebrew  Bibles  without  points,  in 
8vo  and  24mo,  which  are  much 
coveted  by  the  Jews ;  not  that 
they  are  more  exact,  but  more 
portai)le  than  the  rest,  and  are 
used  in  their  synagogues  and 
schools.  Of  these  there  are  two 
beautiful  editions ;  the  one  of 
Plantin,  in  8vo,  with  two  columns, 
and  the  other  in  24mo,  reprinted 
by  Raphalengius,  at  Leyden,  in 
1610.  There  is  also  an  edition  of 
them  by  Laurens,  at  Amsterdam, 
in  1631,  in  a  larger  character; 
and  another  in  12mo,  at  Frankfoit, 
in  1694,  full  of  faults,  with  a  pre- 
face of  Mr.  Leusden  at  the  head 
of  it.  Houbigant  published  an 
elegant  edition  of  the  Hebrew  Bi- 
ble at  Paris,  in  1753,  in  4  vols, 
folio :  the  text  is  that  of  Vander 
Hooght,  without  points  ;  to  which 
he  has  added  marginal  notes,  sup- 
plying the  variations  of  the  Sama- 
ritan copy.  Dr.  Kennicott,  af- 
ter almost  twenty  years'  laborious 
collation  of  near  600  copies,  ma- 
nuscripts and  printed,  either  of 
the  'whole  or  particular  parts 
of  the  Bible,  published  the  He- 
brew Bible  in  2  volumes,  fo- 
lio ;  the  text  is  that  of  Everard 


BIB 


92 


BIB 


Vander  Hooght,  already  mention- 
ed, difFering  from  it  only  in  the 
disposition  of  the  poetical  parts, 
which  Dr.  Kennicott  has  printed 
in  hemistichs,  into  which  they 
jiaturally  divide  themselves  :  how- 
ever, the  words  follow  one  ano- 
ther in  the  same  order  as  they  do 
in  the  edition  of  Vander  Hooght. 
This  edition  is  printed  on  an  ex- 
cellent type  :  the  Samaritan  text, 
according  to  the  copy  in  the  Lon- 
don Polyglot,  is  exhibited  in  a 
column  parallel  with  the  Hebrew 
text ;  those  parts  of  it  only  being 
introduced  in  which  it  diifers 
from  the  Hebrev/.  The  nume- 
rous variations,  both  of  the  Sama- 
ritan manuscript  from  the  printed 
copy  of  the  Sam^aritan  texts,  and 
of  the  Hebrew  manuscripts  from 
the  printed  text  of  Vander  Hooght, 
are  placed  separately  at  the  bot- 
tom pf  the  page,  and  marked  with 
numbers  referring  to  the  copies 
from  which  they  are  taken.  Four 
quarto  volumes  of  various  read- 
ings have  also  been  published  by 
De  Rossi,  of  Parma,  from  more 
than  400  manuscripts  (some  of 
which  are  said  to  be  of  the  seventh 
or  eighth  century),  as  well  as. from 
a  considerable  number  of  rare  and 
unnoticed  editions.  An  edition  of 
Reineccius's  Hebrew  Bible,  with 
readings  from  Kennicott  and  De 
Rossi,  has  been  published  by  Dod~ 
derlein,  and  will  be  found  a  use- 
ful work  to  the  Hebrew  student. 

31.  Bibi.es,  Italian.  The  first 
Italian  Bible  published  by  the 
Romanists  is  that  of  Nicholas 
Malerme,  a  Benedictine  ntonk, 
printed  at  Venice  in  1471.  It 
was  translated  from  the -Vulgate. 
The  version  of  Anthony  Brucioli, 


published  at  Venice  in  1532,  was 
prohibited  by  the  council  of  Trent. 
The  Calvlnists  likewise  have  their 
Italian  Bibles.  There  is  one  of 
John  Diodati  in  1607  and  1641  ; 
and  another  of  Maximus  Theo- 
philus,  in  1551,  dedicated  to  Fran- 
cis de  Medicis,  duke  of  Tuscany. 
The  Jews  of  Italy  have  no  entire 
version  of  the  Bible  in  Italian  ; 
the  inquisition  constantly  refusing 
to  allow  them  the  liberty  of  print- 
ing one. 

32.  Bibles,  LaUn^  however 
numerous,  may  be  all  reduced  to 
three  classes  ;  the  ancient  Vulgate, 
called  also  Italica,  translated  from 
the  Greek  Septuagint;  the  modern 
Vulgate,  the  greatest  part  of 
which  is  done  from  the  Hebrew 
text ;  and  the  new  Latin  transla- 
tions, done  also  from  the  Hebrew 
text,  in  the  sixteenth  century. 
We  have  nothing  remaining  of 
the  ancient  Vulgate,  used  in  the 
primitive  times  in  the  western 
churches,  but  the  Psalms,  Wis- 
dom, and  Ecclesiastes.  Nobili- 
us  has  endeavoured  to  retrieve 
it  from  the  works  of  the  ancient 
Latin  fathers  ;  jaut  it  was  impos- 
sible to  do  it  exactly,  because 
most  of  the  fathers  did  not  keep 
close  to  it  in  their,  citations.  As 
to  the  modern  Vulgate,  there  are 
a  vast  number  of  editions  very 
different  from  each  other.  Car- 
dinal Ximenes  has  inserted  one 
in  the  Bible  of  Complutum,  cor- 
rected and  altered  in  many  places. 
R.  Stevens,  and  the  doctors  of 
Louvain,  have  taken  great  pains 
in  correcting  the  modern  Vulgate. 
The  best  edition  of  Stevens's 
Latin  Bible  is  that  of  1540,  re- 
printed 1545,  in  which  are  added 


BIB 


BIB 


on  the  margin  the  various  read- 
ings of  several  Latin  manuscripts 
which  he  had  consulted.  The 
doctors  of  Louvain  revised  the 
modern  Vulgate  after  R.  Stevens, 
and  added  the  various  readings 
of  several  Latin  manuscripts. 
The  best  of  the  Louvain  editions 
are  those  in  which  are  added  the 
critical  notes  of  Francis  Lucas, 
of  Bruges.  All  these  reforma- 
tions of  the  Latin  Bible  were 
made  before  the  time  of  pope  Six- 
tus  V  and  Clement  VIII;  since 
which  people  have  not  presumed 
to  make  any  alterations,  excepting 
in  comments  and  separate  notes. 
The  correction  of  Clement  VIII 
in  1592  is  now  the  standard 
throughout  all  the  Romish  church- 
es', that  pontiff  made  two  reforma- 
tions ;  but  it  is  the  first  of  them 
that  is  followed.  From  this  the 
Bibles  of  Plantin  were  done,  and 
from  those  of  Plantin  all  the  rest ; 
so  that  the  common  Bibles  have 
none  of  the  after-corrections  of 
the  same  Clement  VIII.  It  is 
a  heavy  charge  that  lies  on-  the 
editions  of  pope  Clement,  viz. 
that  they  have  some  new  texts 
added,  and  many  old  ones  altered, 
to  countenance  and  confirm  what 
they  call  the  catholic  doctrine. 
There  are  a  great  number  of 
Latin  Bibles  of  the  third  class, 
comprehending  the  versions  from 
the  originals  of  the  sacred  books 
made  within  these  200  years. 
The  first  is  that  of  Santes  Pag- 
ninus,  a  Dominican,  under  the 
patronage  of  Leo  X,  printed  at 
Lyons,  in  quarto,  in  1527,  much 
esteemed  by  the  Jews.  This  the 
author  improved  in  a  second  edi- 
tion.   In  1542  there  was  a  beauti- 


ful edition  of  the  same  at  Lyons- 
in  folio,  with  scholia,  published 
under  the  name  of  Michael  Villa- 
novanus,  i.  e.  Michael  Servetus, 
author  of  the  scholia.  Those  of 
Zurich  have  likewise  published 
an  edition  of  Pagninus's  Bible  ih 
quarto  ;  and  R.  Stevens  reprinted 
it  in  folio,  with  the  Vulgate,  in 
1557,  pretejiding  to  give  it  more 
correct  than  in  the  former  edition^. 
There  is  also  another  edition  of 
1586,  in  four  columns,  under  the 
name  of  Vatablus  ;  and  we  find  it 
again,  in  the  Hamburgh  edition 
of  the  Bible,  in  four  languages. 
In  the  number  of  Latin  Bibles 
is  also  usually  ranked  the  version 
of  the  same  Pagninus,  corrected, 
or  rather  rendered  literal,  by- 
Arias  Montanus ;  whicn  correc- 
tion being  approved  of  by  the 
doctors  of  Louvain,  &c.  was  in- 
serted in  the  Polyglot  Bible  of 
Philip  II,  and  since  in  that  of 
London.  There  have  been  vari- 
ous editions  of  this  in  folio,  quarto, 
and- octavo  ;  to  which  have  been 
added  the  Hebrew  text  of  the 
Old  Testament,  and  the  Greek 
of  the  New.  The  best  of  them 
all  is  the  first,  which  is  in  folio, 
1571.  Since  the  reformation, 
there  have  been  several  Latin 
versions  of  the  Bible  from  the 
originals  by  Protestants.  The 
most  esteemed  are  those  of  Mun- 
ster,  Leo  Juda,  Castalio,  and  Tre- 
mellius  ;  the  three  last  of  which 
have  been  reprinted  various  times. 
Munster  published  his  version  at 
Basil  in  1534,  which  he  afterwards 
revised  :  he  published  a  correct 
edition  in  1546.  Castalio's  fine 
Latin  pleases  most  people ;  but 
there  are  some  who  think  it  aifect- 


B  IB 


94 


BIB 


cd ;  the  best  edition  is  that  in  15TS, 
Leo  Juda's  version,  altered  a  little 
by  the  divines  of  Salamanca,  was 
added  to  the  ancient  Latin  edition, 
as  published  by  R.  Stevens,  with 
notes,  under  the  name  of  Vata- 
blus's  Bible,  in  1545.  It  was  con- 
demned by  the  Parisian  divines, 
but  printed,  with  some  alterations, 
by  the  Spanish  divines  of  Sala- 
manca. Those  of  Junius,  Tremel- 
lius,  and  Beza,  are  considerably 
exact,  and  have  undergone  a  great 
number  of  editions.  We  may  add 
a  fourth  class  of  Latin  Bibles, 
comprehending  the  Vulgate  edi- 
tion, corrected  from  the  originals. 
The  Bible  of  Isidorus  Clarus  is  of 
this  number :  that  author,  not 
contented  with  restoring  the  an- 
cient Latin  copy,  has  corrected 
the  translator  in  a  great  number  of 
places  which  he  thought  ill  ren- 
dered. Some  protestants  have 
followed  the  same  method  :  and, 
among  others,  Andrew  and  Luke 
Osiander,  who  have  each  publish- 
ed a  new  edition  of  the  Vulgate, 
corrected  from  the  originals. 

33.  BiBLPis,  3Iuscovite.  See 
Nos.  38  and  39. 

34.  B  ISLES,  Oriental.  See 
Nos.  12,  13,  15,  19,  20,  23,  Zo, 
41,42. 

Z5.  Bibles,  Persian.  Some 
of  the  fathers  seem  to  say  that  all 
the  scripture  v/as  formerly  trans- 
lated into  the  language  of  the  Per- 
sians ;  but  we  have  nothing  now 
remaining  of  the  ancient  version, 
which  was  ceitainly  done  from 
the  Septuaglnt.  The  Persian  Pen- 
tateuch, printed  in  the  London 
Polyglot,  is  vv-lthout  doubt  the 
work  of  rabbi  Jacob,  a  Pei'slan 
Jevv'.     It   was   published   by   the 


Jew^s  at  Constantinople  in  1551. 
In  the  same  Polyglot  we  have 
Ukewlse  the  four  evangelists  in 
Persian,  with  a  Latin  translation  ; 
but  this  appears  very  modern,  in- 
correct, and  of  little  use.  Walton 
says,  this  X^erslon  was  written 
above  four  hundred  years  ago. 
Another  version  of  the  gospels  was 
published  at  Cambridge  by  Whe- 
loc,  in  the  seventeenth  century. 
There  are  also  two  Persian  ver- 
sions of  the  Psalms  made  from 
the  vulgar  Latin. 

36.  Bibles,  Polhh.  The  first 
Polish  version  of  the  Bible,  it  is 
said,  was  that  composed  by  Hade- 
wich,  wife  of  Jagellon,  Duke  of 
Lithuania,  who  embraced  Chris- 
tianity In  the  year  1390.  In  1599 
there  was  a  Polish  translation  of 
the  Bible  published  at  Cracow, 
which  was  the  work  of  several  di- 
vines of  that  nation,  and  in  which 
James  Wieck,  a  Jesuit,  had  a 
principal  share.  The  Protestants, 
in  1596,  published  a  Polish  Bible 
from  Luther's  German  version, 
and  dedicated  it  to  Uladislaus, 
fourth  king  of  Poland. 

2,7.  Bibles,  Polyglot.  See 
Nos.  29  and  31. 

38.  Bibles,  Russian;  or, 

39.  Bibles,  Scl'avonian.  The 
Russians  or  Muscovites  published 
the  Bible  in  their  language  in 
1581.  It  was  translated  from 
the  Greek  by  St.  Cyril,  the  apos- 
tle of  the  Sclavonians  J  but  this 
old  version  being  too  obscure, 
Ernest  GHIk,  who  had  been  carried 
prisoner  to  Moscow  after  the  tak- 
ing of  Narva,  undertook  a  new 
translation  of  the  Bible  Into  Scla- 
vonian  ;  who  dying  in  1 705,  the 
Czar  Peter  appointed  some  par- 


BIB 


95 


BIB 


ticufar  divines  to  finish  the  trans- 
lation ;  but  whether  it  was  evef- 
printed  we  cannot  say. 

40.  Bibles,  Spanish.  The 
first  Spanish  Bible  that  we  hear 
of,  is  that  mentioned  by  Cyprian 
de  Valera,  which  he  says  was 
published  about  1500.  The  epis- 
tles and  gospels  were  published  in 
that  language  by  Ambrose  de  Mon- 
tesian  in  1512  ;  the  whole  Bible  by 
Cassiodore  de  Revna,  a  Calvinist, 
in  1569  ;  and  the  New  Testament, 
dedicated  to  the  emperor  Charles 
V,  by  Francis  Enzina,  otherwise 
called  Driander,  in  1543.  The  first 
Bible  which  was  printed  in  Spanish 
for  the  use  of  the  Jews  was  that 
printed  at  Ferrara  in  1 5SZ^  in  Go- 
thic characters,  and  dedicated  to 
Hercules  D'Este,  duke  of  Ferrara. 
This  version  is  very  ancient,  and 
was  probably  in  use  among  the 
Jews  of  Spain  before  Ferdinand 
and  Isabella  expelled  them  out 
of  their  dominions  in  1492.  Af- 
ter very  violent  opposition  from 
the  catholic  clergy,  the  court  of 
Spain  ordered  Spanish  Bibles  to 
be  printed  by  royal  authority  in 
l/ge,  and  put  into  the  hands  of 
people  of  all  ranks,  as  well  as  to 
be  used  in  public  worship. 

41.  Bibles,  Syr'iac.  There 
are  extant  two  versions  of  the 
Old  Testament  in  the  Syriac  lan- 
guage ;  one  from  the  Septuagint, 
which  is  ancient,  and  made  pro- 
bably about  the  time  of  Constan- 
tine  ;  the  other  called  antiqua  et 
simplex.,  made  from  the  Hebrew, 
as  some  suppose,  about  the  time 
of  the  apostles.  This  version  is 
printed  in  the  Polyglots  of  Lon- 
don and  Paris.  In  1562,  Wed- 
manstadius  printed  the  whole  New 


Testament  in  Syriac,  at  Vienna^ 
in  a  beautiful  character :  and 
since  his  time  there  have  been  se- 
veral other  editions.  Gabriel  Sio- 
nita  published  a  beautiful  Syriac 
edition  of  the  Psalms  at  Paris  in 
1526,  with  a  Latjn  interpretation. 
Dr.  White,  it  is  said,  has  for  some, 
time  been  engaged  in  reprinting 
the  Syriac  Old  Testament. 

42.  Bibles,  Turkish,  In  1G66 
a  Turkish  New  Testament  was 
printed  in  London  to  be  dispersed 
in  the  East.  In  1721,  it  is  said, 
the  Grand  Seignior  ordered  an 
impression  of  Bibles  at  Constan- 
tinople, that  they  might  be  con- 
trasted with  Mahomet's  oracle, 
the  Alcoran.  The  modern  Greeks 
in  Turkey  have  also  a  translation 
of  the  Bible  in  their  language. 

43.  Bibles,  Welch.  There 
was  a  Welch  translation  of  the 
Bible  made  from  the  original  in 
the  time  of  queen  Elizabeth,  in 
consequence  of  a  bill  brought  into 
the  house  of  commons  for  this 
purpose  in  1563:  it  was  printed 
in  folio  in  1588.  Another  ver- 
sion, which  is  the  standard  trans- 
lation for  that  language,  was  print- 
ed in  1620:  it  is  called  Parry's 
Bible.  An  impression  of  this  was 
printed  in  1690,  called  Bishop 
Lloyd'' s  Bible :  these  were  In  fo- 
lio. The  first  octavo  impression 
of  the  Welch  Bible  was  made  in 
1630. 

44.  Bibles,  Bengalee.  It  is 
with  pleasure  vrc  add  to  all  the 
above  accounts,  that  a  translation 
of  the  New  Testament  into  the 
Bengalee  language,  by  the  Baptist 
missionaries  residing  in  that  part, 
is  now  finished;  we  hope  also  to 
hear  of  a  complete  translation  of 


BID 


96 


BIG 


ihe  whole  Bible  into  that  tongue. 
May  it  be  a  lasting  blessing  to  that 
unenlightened  country  ! 

See  Le Long's  Bibliotheca  Sacra; 
Wolfi  Bibliotheca  Hebraa^  vol.  ii, 
p.  338  ;  Johnson! s  Historical  Ac-, 
count  of  English  Translations  of 
the  Bible;  Lezvis''s  Hist,  of  the 
Translations  of  the  Bible  into  Eng- 
lish; Nexvcome'^s  Historical  View 
cf  English  Translations  ;  BiLtler'^s 
Horn  BibliCiz;  darkens  Biographi- 
cal Dictionary ;  and  the  article 
Bible  in  the  Encyclopedias  Bri- 
tannica  and  Perthensis. 

BIBLIOMANCY,  a  kind  of 
divination  performed  by  means  of 
the  Bible.  It  consisted  in  taking 
passages  of  scripture  at  hazard,  and 
drawing  indications  thence  con- 
cerning things  future.  It  was  much 
xised  at  the  consecration  of  bi- 
shops. F.  J.  Davidius,  a  Jesuit,  has 
published  a  bibliomancv  under  the 
borrowed  name  of  Veridicus  Chris- 
tianus.  It  has  been  affirmed  that 
some  well-meaning  people  practise 
a  kind  of  bibliomancy  with  respect 
to  the  future  state  of  their  souls  ; 
and,  when  they  have  happened  to 
"  fix  on  a  text  of  an  awful  nature, 
it  has  almost  driven  them  to  de- 
•spair.  It  certainly  is  not  the  way 
to  know  the  mind  of  God  by  choos- 
ing cfetached  parts  of  scripture,  or 
hy  drawing  a  card  on  which  a  pas- 
sage may  be  written,  the  sense  of 
which  is  to  be  gathered  only  from 
the  context. 

BiDDELIANS,so  called  from 
John  Biddle,  who  in  the  year  1644 
formed  an  independent  congrega- 
tion in  London.  He  taught  that 
Jesus  Christ,  to  the  intent  that  he 
might  be  our  brother,  and  have  a 
iellov.'-feelingofourinfirmities,and 


so  become  the  more  ready  to  help 
us,  had  no  other  than  a  human 
nature  ;  and  therefore  in  this  very 
nature  is  not  only  a  person,  since 
none  but  a  human  person  can  be 
our  brother,  but  also  our  Lord 
and  God. 

Biddle,  as  well  as  Socinus  and 
other  Unitarians  before  and  since, 
made  no  scruple  of  calling  Christ 
God,  though  he  believed  him  to 
be  a  human  creature  only  On  ac- 
count of  the  divine  sovereignty 
with  which  he  was  invested. 

BIDDING  PRAYER.  It  was 
part  of  the  office  of  the  deacons  in 
the  primitive  church  to  be  moni- 
tors and  directors  of  the  people  in 
their  public  devotions  in  the  church. 
To  this  end  they  made  use  of  cer- 
tain known  forms  of  words,  to 
give  notice  when  each  part  of  the 
service  began.  Agreeable  to  this 
ancient  practice  is  the  form  "  Let 
us  pray,"  repeated  before  several 
of  the  prayers  in  the  English  li- 
turgy. Bishop  Burnet,  in  his  His- 
tor}'^  of  the  Keforniation,  vol.  ii, 
p.  20,  has  preserved  the  form  as  it 
was  in  use  before  the  reforma- 
tion, which  was  this  : — After  the 
preacher  had  named  and  opened 
his  text,  he  called  on  the  people 
to  go  to  their  prayers,  telling  them 
what  they  were  to  pray  for  :  Ye 
shall  pray,  says  he,  for  the  king, 
the  pope,  &c.  After  which,  all 
the  people  said  their  beads  in  ^ 
general  silence,  and  the  minister 
kneeled  down  likewise,  and  said 
his  :  they  were  to  say  a  pater-nos- 
ttr^  ave-  maria^  &c.  and  then  the 
sermon  proceeded. 

BIGOTRY  consists  inbeingob- 
stinately  and  perversely  attached  to 
our  own  opinions ;  or,  as  some  have 


BIG 


97 


BIO 


defined  it,  "  a  tenacious' adherence 
to  a  system  adopted  without  in- 
vestigation, and  defended  without 
argument,  accompanied  with  a 
malignant  intolerant  spirit  towards 
all  who  differ."  It  must  be  dis- 
tinguished from  love  to  truths 
which  influences  a  man  to  em- 
brace it  wherever  he  finds  it ;  and 
from  true  zeal^  which  is  an  ardour 
of  mind  exciting  its  possessor  to 
defend  and  propagate  the  prin- 
ciples he  maintains.  Bigotry  is 
a  kind  of  prejudice  combined 
with  a  certain  degree  of  maligni- 
ty. It  is  thus  exemplified  and 
distinguished  by  a  sensible  writer. 
*'  When  Jesus  preached,  prejudice 
cried,  Can  any  good  thing  come 
out  of  Nazareth  ?  Crucify  him, 
crucify  him,  said  bigotry.  Why  ? 
what  evil  hath  he  done  ?  replied 
candour."  Bigotry  is  mostly  pre- 
valent with  those  who  are  igno- 
rant ;  who  have  taken  up  princi- 
ples without  due  examination ; 
and  who  are  naturally  of  a  mo- 
rose and  contracted  disposition. 
It  is  often  manifested  more  in  un- 
important sentiments,  or  the  cir- 
cumstantials of  religion  than  the 
essentials  of  it.  Simple  bigotry 
is  the  spirit  of  persecution  without 
the  power;  persecution  is  bigotry 
armed  with  power,  and  carrying 
its  will  into  act.  As  it  is  the  ef- 
fect of  ignorance,  so  it  is  the  nurse 
of  it,  because  it  precludes  free  in- 
quiry, and  is  an  enemy  to  truth :  it 
cuts  also  the  very  sinews  of  chari- 
ty, and  destroys  moderation  and 
mutual  good  will.  If  we  consider  the 
different  makes  of  men's  minds, 
our  own  ignorance,  the  liberty  that 
all  men  have  to  think  for  them- 
selves, the  admirable  example  our 
Vol.  I.  O 


Lord  has  set  us  of  a  contrary  spi- 
rit, and  the  baneful  effects  of  this 
disposition,  we  must  at  once  be  con- 
vinced of  its  impropriety.  How 
contradictory  it  is  to  sound  reason, 
and  how  inimical  to  the  peaceful 
religion  we  profess  to  maintain  as 
christians  !  See  Persecution,  and 
books  under  that  article. 

BIOGRAPHY  Religious,  or 
the  lives  of  illustrious  and  pious 
men,  are  well  worthy  of  perusing. 
The  advantages  of  religious  bio- 
graphy are  too  well  known  to 
need  a  recital  in  this  place.  We 
shall  only,  therefore,  point  out 
some  of  the  best  pieces,  which 
the  reader  may  peruse  at  his  lei- 
sure. 

Hunter's  Sacred  Biography ; 
Robinson'' s  Scripture  Characters ; 
Hunter'' s  History  of  Christ;  y, 
Taylor'' s  Life  of  Christ ;  Cavers 
Lives  of  the  Apostles  ;  Cave's  Lives 
of  the  Fathers  ;  Fox's  Lives  of  the 
Martyrs;  Melchior  Ackons's  Lives; 
Fuller'' s  and  Clark's  Lives  ;  Gilpin^ s 
Lives  of  Wickliffe^  Cranmer^  Lati- 
mer^ is'c.;  Walton' s  Lives  by  Zoiich  ; 
Baxter's  Narrative  of  the  most  re- 
markable Passages  of  his  Life  and 
Times^  by  Silvester  ;  Palmer'' s  Non- 
conformist Memor'ial ;  Lives  of  P. 
and  M.  Henry  ;  Life  of  Hahjbur- 
ton ;  Orton's  Memoirs  of  Dod- 
dridge; Gillies'  Life  ofWhitefeld; 
Doddridge's  Life  of  Gardner; 
Life  of  Wesley  by  Hampson^  Coke^ 
More^and  Whitehead ;  MiddletoiCs 
Biographia  Evangel'ica;  Edtvards^s 
Life  of  D.  Brainerd;  Gibbon's  Life 
of  Watts;  Ry land's  Life  of  Her- 
vey;  Faxvcett's  Life  of  Heywood; 
Broxvn's  Lives  in  his  Student  and 
Pastor ;  Burnet's  Life  of  Roches- 
ter ;  Priestley's  Chart  of  Biogra- 


BL  A 


98 


BLA 


phy^  xuith  a  Book  describing  it, 
i  2mo. ;  Haweis's  Life  ofRomaine; 
Fuller^s  Life  of  Pearce. 

BISHOP,  a  prelate  consecrated 
for  the  spiritual  government  of  a 
diocese.  The  word  comes  from  the 
Saxon  bischop,  and  that  from  the 
Greek  tiriaMitos^  an  overseer,  or 
inspector.  It  is  a  long  time  since 
bishops  have  been  distinguished 
from  mere  priests,  or  presbyters  ; 
but  whether  that  distinction  be  of 
divine  or  human  right ;  whether 
it  was  settled  in  the  apostolic  age, 
or  introduced  since,  is  much  con- 
troverted. Churchmen  in  general 
plead  for  the  divine  right ;  while 
the  Dissenters  suppose  that  the 
word  no  where  signifies  more  than 
a  pastor  or  presbyter  ;  the  very 
same  persons  being  called  bishops 
and  elders,  or  presbyters,  Acts  xx, 
17,  28.  1st  Pet.  V,  1,  2.  Tit.  i.  5, 
7.  Phil,  i,  1.  See  Episcopacy. 
All  the  bishops  of  England  are 
peers  of  the  realm,  except  the 
bishop  of  Man  ;  and  as  such  sit 
and  vote  in  the  house  of  lords. 
Besides  two  archbishops,  there  are 
twenty-four  bishops  in  England, 
exclusive  of  the  bishop  of  Sodor 
and  Man.  The  bishops  of  Lon- 
don, Durham,  and  Winchester, 
take  the  precedence  of  the  other 
bishops,  who  rank  after  them  ac- 
cording to  their  seniority  of  conse- 
cration.   See  Episcopacy. 

BLASPHEMY,fromBAaff<p^pt/«, 
according  to  Dr.  Campbell,  pro- 
perly denotes  calumny,  detraction, 
reproachful  or  abusive  language, 
against  whomsoever  it  be  vented. 
It  is  in  scripture  applied  to  re- 
proaches not  aimed  against  God 
only,  but  man  also,  Rom.  iii,  8. 
Rom.  xiv,  16.  1st  Pet.  iv,  4.  Gr.  I 


It  is,  however,  more  peculiarly 
restrained  to  evil  or  reproachful 
words  offered  to  God.  Accord- 
ing to  Lindwood,  blasphemy  is  an 
injury  offered  to  God,  by  deny- 
ing that  which  is  due  and  be- 
longing to  him,  or  attributing 
to  him  what  is  not  agreeable  to 
his  nature.  '*  Three  things"  says 
a  divine,  "  are  essential  to  this 
crime  ;  1.  God  must  be  the  object. 
— 2.  The  words  spoken  or  writ- 
ten, independent  of  consequences 
which  others  may  derive  from 
them,  must  be  injurious  in  their 
nature. — And,  3.  He  who  commits 
the  crime  must  do  it  knowingly. 
This  is  real  blasphemy  ;  but  there 
is  a  relative  blasphemy,  as  when  a 
man  may  be  guilty  ignorantly^ 
by  propagating  opinions  which 
dishonour  God,  the  tendency  of 
which  he  does  not  perceive.  A  man 
may  be  guilty  of  this  constructive- 
hj ;  for  if  he  speak  freely  against 
received  errors,  it  will  be  con- 
strued into  blasphemy."  By  the 
English  laws,  blasphemies  of  God, 
as  denying  his  being  or  provi- 
dence, and  all  contumelious  re- 
proaches of  Jesus  Christ,  &c.  are 
offences  by  the  common  law,  and 
punishable  by  fine,  imprisonment, 
and  pillory;  and  by  the  statute 
law,  he  that  denies  one  of  the  per- 
sons in  the  Trinity,  or  asserts  that 
there  are  more  than  one  God,  or 
denies  Christianity  to  be  true, 
for  the  first  offence  is  rendered 
incapable  of  any  office  ;  for  the 
second,  adjudged  incapable  of 
suing,  being  executor  or  guar- 
dian, receiving  any  gift  or  legacy, 
and  to  be  imprisoned  for  three 
years.  According  to  the  law  of 
Scotland,  blasphemy  is  punished 


BOH 


99 


BOR 


with  death  ;  these  laws,  however, 
in  the  present  age,  are  not  en- 
forced; the  legislature  thinking, 
perhaps,  that  spiritual  offences 
should  be  left  to  be  punished  by 
the  Deity  rather  than  by  human 
statutes.  CampbeWs  Prel.  Diss,, 
vol.  i,  p.  395;  Robinson^s  Script. 
Flea,  p.  58. 

BLASPHEMY  AGAINST 
THE  HOLY  GHOST.  See  Un- 

PARDONABLE  SiN. 

BODY  OF  DIVINITY.    See 

Theology. 

BOGOMILI,  or  BoGARMiTiE, 
a  sect  of  heretics  which  arose 
about  the  year  1179.  They  held 
that  the  use  of  churches,  of  the 
sacrament  of  the  Lord's  supper, 
and  all  prayer  except  the  Lord's 
prayer,  ought  to  be  abolished ; 
that  the  baptism  of  Catholics  is 
imperfect ;  that  the  persons  of  the 
Trinity  are  unequal,  and  that  they 
often  made  themselves  visible  to 
those  of  their  sect. 

BOHEMIAN  BRETHREN, 
a  sect  of  christian  reformers  which 
sprung  up  in  Bohemia  in  the  year 
1467.  They  treated  the  pope  and 
cardinals  as  antichrist,  and  the 
^:hurch  of  Rome  as  the  whore 
spoken  of  in  the  Revelations.  They 
rejected  the  sacraments  of  the 
Romish  church,  and  chose  laymen 
for  their  ministers.  They  held  the 
scriptures  to  be  the  only  rule  of 
faith,  and  rejected  the  popish  cere- 
monies in  the  celebration  of  the 
mass ;  nor  did  they  make  use  of 
any  ot^er  prayer  than  the  Lord's 
prayer.  They  consecrated  leaven- 
ed bread.  They  allowed  no  adora- 
tion but  of  Jesus  Christ  in  the 
communion.  They  rebaptized  all 
such  as  joined  themselves  to  their 
congregation.    They  abhorred  the 


worship    of    saints   and    images, 
prayers  for  the    dead,  celibacies, 
vows,  and  fasts  ;    and  kept  none 
of   the   festivals   but    Christmas, ' 
Easter,  and  Whitsuntide. 

In  1504  they  were  accused  by 
the  Catholics  to  king  Ladislaus  II, 
who  published  an  edict  against 
them,  forbidding  them  to  hold 
any  meetings,  either  privately  or 
publicly.  When  Luther  declared 
himself  against  the  church  of  Rome, 
the  Bohemian  Brethren  endeavour- 
ed to  join  his  party..  At  first, 
that  reformer  shewed  a  great  aver- 
sion to  them ;  but,  the  Bohemians 
sending  their  deputies  to  him  in 
1523  with  a  full  account  of  their 
doctrines,  he  acknowledged  that 
they  were  a  society  of  christians 
whose  doctrine  came  nearest  to 
the  purity  of  the  gospel.  This 
sect  published  another  confession 
of  faith  in  1535,  in  which  they  re- 
nounced anabaptism,  which  they 
at  first  practised:  upon  which  a 
union  was  concluded  with  the  Lu- 
therans, and  afterwards  with  the 
Zuinglians,  whose  opinions  from 
thenceforth  they  continued  to  fol- 
low. 

BOOK  OF  SPORTS.  See 
Sports. 

BORRELLISTS,  a  christ- 
ian sect  in  Holland,  so  named 
from  their  founder  Borrel,  a  man 
of  great  learning  in  the  Hebrew, 
Greek,  and  Latin  tongues.  They 
reject  the  "use  of  the  sacraments, 
public  prayer,  and  all  other  external 
acts  of  worship.  They  assert  that  all 
the  christian  churches  of  the  world 
have  degenerated  from  the  pure 
apostolic  doctrines,  because  they 
have  suffered  the  word  of  God, 
which  is  infallible,  to  be  expound- 
ed, or  rather  corrupted,  by  doc- 


BOU 


100 


BRA 


tors  who  are  fallible.  They  lead 
a  very  austere  life,  and  employ  a 
great  part  of  their  goods  in  alms. 
BOURIGNONISTS,  the  fol- 
lowers of  Antoinette  Bom-ignon,  a 
lady  in  France,  who  pretended  to 
particular  inspirations.  She  was 
born  at  Lisle  in  1616.  At  her  birth 
she  was  so  deformed,  that  it  was 
debated  some  days  in  the  family 
■whether  it  was  not  proper  to  stifle 
her  as  a  monster ;  but,  her  defor- 
mity diminishing,  she  was  spared ; 
and  afterwards  obtained  such  a 
-degree  of  beauty,  that  she  had  her 
admirers.  From  her  childhood  to 
her  old  age  she  had  an  extraordi- 
nary turn  of  mind.  She  set  up  for 
a  reformer,  and  published  a  great 
number  of  books  filled  with  very 
singular  notions;  the  most  remark- 
able of  which  are  entitled.  The 
Light  of  the  Worlds  and  The  Tes- 
timony of  Truth.  In  her  confession 
of  faith,  she  professes  her  belief  in 
the  scriptures,  the  divinity  and 
atonement  of  Christ.  She  believed 
also  that  man  is  perfectly  free  to 
resist  or  receive  divine  grace;  that 
God  is  ever  unchangeable  love  to- 
wards all  his  creatures,  and  does  not 
inflict  any  arbitrary  punishment ; 
but  that  the  evils  they  suffer  are 
the  natural  consequence  of  sin ; 
that  religion  consists  not  in  out- 
Ward  forms  of  worship  nor  systems 
of  faith,  l^ut  in  an  entire  resigna- 
tion to  the  will  of  God.  She  held 
many  extravagant  notions,  among 
which,  it  is  said,  she  asserted  that 
Adam,  before  the  fall,  possessed 
the  principles  of  both  sexes  ;  that 
in  an  ecstacy,  God  represented 
Adam  to  her  mind  in  his.  original 
state ;  as  also  the  beauty  of  the 
first  world,  and  how  he  had  drawn 


from  it  the  chaos  ;  and  that  every 
thing  was  bright,  transparent,  and 
darted  forth  life  and  ineffable  glo- 
ry, with  a  number  of  other  wild 
ideas.  She  dressed  like  an  hermit, 
and  travelled  through  France, 
Holland,  England,  and  Scotland. 
She  died  at  Faneker,  in  the  pro- 
vince of  Frise,  October  30,  1 680. 
Her  works  have  been  printed  in  18 
vols.  8vo. 

BOYLE's  LECTURES,  a 
course  of  eight  sermons,  preached 
annually  ;  set  on  foot  by  the  ho- 
nourable R.  Boyle,  by  a  codicil 
annexed  to  his  will,  in  1691, 
whose  design,  as  expressed  by  the 
institutor,  is  to  prove  the  truth 
of  the  christian  religion  against 
infidels,  without  descending  to 
any  controversies  among  chris- 
tians, and  to  answer  new  difficul- 
ties, scruples,  &c.  For  the  sup- 
port of  this  lecture  he  assigned  the 
rent  of  his  house  in  Crooked  Lane 
to  some  learned  divine  within  the 
bills  of  mortality,  to  be  elected 
for  a  term  not  exceeding  three 
years.  But,  the  fund  proving 
precarious,  the  salary  was  ill 
paid  ;  to  remedy  which  inconveni- 
ence, archbishop  Tennison  pro- 
cured a  yearly  stipend  of  50/. 
for  ever,  to  be  paid  quarterly, 
charged  on  a  farm  in  the  parish 
of  Brill,  in  the  county  of  Bucks. 
To  this  appointment  we  are  in- 
debted for  many  excellent  de- 
fences of  natural  and  revealed  re- 
ligion. 

BRANDENBURG,  confession 
of.  A  formulary  or  confession  of 
faith,  drawn  up  in  the  city  of  Bran- 
denburg by  order  of  the  elector, 
with  a  view  to  reconcile  the 
tenets  of    Luther  with   those,  of 


BRE 


101 


BRO 


Calvin,  and  to  put  an  end  to  the 
disputes  occasioned  by  the  con- 
fession of  Augsburgh.  See  Augs- 
BURGH  Confession. 

BRETHREN  AND  SIS- 
TERS OF  THE  FREE  SPI- 
RIT, an  appellation  assumed  by  a 
sect  which  sprung  up  towards  the 
close  of  the  thirteenth  century,  and 
gained  many  adherents  in  Italy, 
France,  and  Germany.  They  took 
their  denomination  from  the  words 
of  St.  Paul,  Rom.  viii,  2,  14.  and 
maintained  that  the  true  children 
of  God  were  invested  with  perfect 
freedom  from  the  jurisdiction  of 
the  law.  They  held  that  all 
things  flowed  by  emanation  from 
God  ;  that  rational  souls  were  por- 
tions of  the  Deity  ;  that  the  uni- 
verse was  God ;  and  that  by  the 
power  of  contemplation  they  were 
united  to  the  Deity,  and  acquired 
hereby  a  glorious  and  sublime  li- 
berty, both  from  the  sinful  lusts 
and  the  common  instincts  of  na- 
ture, with  a  variety  of  other  en- 
thusiastic notions.  Many  edicts 
were  published  against  them  ;  but 
they  continued  till  about  the  mid- 
dle of  the  fifteenth  century. 
BRETHREN  AND  CLERKS 
OF  THE  COMMON  LIFE,  a 
denomination  assumed  by  a  reli- 
gious fraternity  towards  the  end  of 
the  fifteenth  centmy.  They  lived 
under  the  rule  of  St.  Augustin,  and 
were  said  to  be  eminently  useful 
in  promoting  the  cause  of  religion 
and  learning. 

BRETHREN  WHITE,  were 
the  followers  of  a  priest  from  the 
Alps  about  the  beginning  of  the 
fifteenth  century.  They  and  their 
leader  were  arrayed  in  white  gar- 
ments. Their  leader  carried  about 


a.  cross  like  a  standard.  His  ap- 
parent sanctity  and  devotion  drew 
together  a  number  of  followers. 
This  deluded  enthusiast  practised 
many  acts  of  mortification  and 
penance,  and  endeavoured  to  per- 
suade the  Europeans  to  renew  the 
holy  war.  Boniface  IX  ordered 
him  to  be  apprehended,  and  com- 
mitted to  the  flames  ;  upon  which 
his  followers  dispersed. 

BRETHREN  UNITED.  See 
Moravians. 

BREVIARY,  the  book  con- 
taining the  daily  service  of  the 
church  of  Rome. 

BRIDGETINS,  or  Brigit- 
TiNS,  an  order  denominated  from 
St.  Bridgit,  or  Birgit,  a  Swedish 
lady,  in  the  fourteenth  century. 
Their  rule  is  nearly  that  of  Augus- 
tin. The  Brigittins  profess  great 
mortification,  poverty,  and  self-de- 
nial ;  and  they  are  not  to  possess 
any  thing  they  can  call  their  own, 
not  so  much  as  an  halfpenny; 
nor  even  to  touch  money  on  any 
account.  This  order  spread  much 
through  Sweden,  Germany,  and 
the  Netherlands.  In  England  we 
read  of  but  one  monastery  of  Bri- 
gittins, and  this  built  by  Henry 
V,  in  1415,  opposite  to  Rich- 
mond, now  called  Sion  House ; 
the  ancient  inhabitants  of  which, 
since  the  dissolution,  are  settled  at 
Lisbon. 

BRIEFS  (apostolical)  are  let- 
ters which  the  pope  dispatches  to 
princes  and  other  magistrates  con- 
cerning any  pul:)Uc  affair. 

BROTHERS,  Lay,  among  the 
Romanists,  are  illiterate  persons, 
who  devote  themselves  in  some 
convent  to  the  service  of  the  reli- 
gious. 


.^ 


BRO 


102 


BRO 


BRO  WNISTS,  a  sect  that  arose 
among  the  puritans  towards  the 
close  of  the  sixteenth  century ; 
so  named  from  their  leader, 
Robert  Brown.  He  was  educated 
at  Cambridge,  and  was  a  man  of 
good  parts  and  some  learning. 
He  began  to  inveigh  openly  against 
the  ceremonies  of  the  church,  at 
Norwich,  in  1580;  but,  being 
much  opposed  by  the  bishops,  he 
with  his  congregation  left  England, 
and  settled  at  Middleburgh,  in 
Zealand,where  they  obtained  leave 
to  worship  God  in  their  own  way, 
and  form  a  church  according  to 
their  own  model.  They  soon,  how- 
ever, began  to  differ  among  them- 
selves ;  so  that  Brown  growing 
weary  of  his  office,  returned  to 
England  in  1589,  renounced  his 
principles  of  separation,  and  was 
preferred  to  the  rectory  of  a  church 
in  Northaniptonshire.  He  died  in 
prison  in  1630.  The  revolt  of 
Brown  was  attended  with  the  dis- 
solution of  the  church  at  Middle- 
burgh ;  but  the  seeds  of  BroAvnism 
which  he  had  sown  in  England 
were  so  far  from  being  destroyed, 
that  Sir  Walter  Raleigh,  in  a  speech 
in,  1592,  computes  no  less  than 
20,000  of  this  sect. 

The  articles  of  their  faith  seem 
to  be  nearly  the  same  as  those  of 
the  church  of  England.  The 
occasion  of  their  separation  was 
not,  therefore,  any  fault  they 
found  with  the  faith,  but  only 
with  the  discipline  and  form  of 
government  of  the  churches  in 
England.  They  equally  charged 
corruption  on  the  episcopal  and 
presbyterian  forms  ;  nor  .  would 
they  join  with  any  other  reformed 
church,   because   they   were    not 


assured  of  the  sanctity  and  regene- 
ration of  the  members  that  com- 
posed it.  They  condemned  the 
solemn  celebration  of  marriages 
in  the  church,  maintaining  that 
matrimony  being  a  political  con- 
tract, the  confirmation  thereof 
ought  to  come  from  the  civil 
magistrate  ;  an  opinion  in  which 
they  are  not  singular.  They  would 
not  allow  the  children  of  such  as 
were  not  members  of  the  church 
to  be  baptized.  ^  They  rejected 
all  forms  of  praj^er,  and  held  that 
the  Lord's  prayer  was  not  to  be 
recited  as  a  prayer,  being  only 
given  for  a  rule  or  model  whereon 
all  our  prayers  are  to  be  formed. 
Their  form  of  church  government 
was  nearly  as  follows.  When  a 
church  was  to  be  gathered,  such 
as  desired  to  be  members  of  it 
made  a  confession  of  their  faith 
in  the  presence  of  each  other, 
and  signed  a  covenant,  by  which 
they  obliged  themselves  to  walk 
together  in  the  order  of  the  gospel. 
The  whole  power  of  admitting 
and  excluding  members,  with  the 
decision  of  all  controversies,  was 
lodged  in  the  brotherhood.  Their 
church  officers  were  chosen  from 
among  themselves,  and  separated 
to  their  several  offices  by  fasting, 
prayer,  and  imposition  of  hands. 
But  they  did  not  allow  the  priest- 
hood to  be  any  distinct  order.  As 
the  vote  of  the  brethren  made  a 
man  a  minister,  so  the  same  power 
could  discharge  him  from  his 
office,  and  reduce  him  to  a  mere 
layman  again  ;  and  as  they  main- 
tained the  bounds  of  a  church  to 
be  no  greater  than  what  could  , 
meet  together  in  one  place,  and 
join  in  one   communion,  so  the 


BRO 


103 


BUR 


pCfWer  of  these  officers  was  pre- 
scribed within  the  same  limits. — 
The  minister  of  one  church  could 
not  administer  the  Lord's  supper 
to  another,  nor  baptize  the  children 
of  any  but  those  of  his  own  soci- 
ety. Any  lay  brother  was  allowed 
the  liberty  of  giving  a  word  of 
exhortation  to  the  people  ;  and  it 
was  usual  for  some  of  them  after 
sermon  to  ask  questions,  and  reason 
upon  the  doctrines  that  had  been 
preached.  In  a  word,  every  church 
on  their  model  is  a  body  corporate, 
having  full  power  to  do  every 
thing  in  themselves,  without  being 
accountable  to  any  class,  synod, 
convocation,  or  other  jurisdiction 
whatever.  The  reader  will  judge 
how  near  the  Independent  churches 
are  allied  to  this  form  of  govern- 
ment. See  Independence. — The 
laws  were  executed  with  great 
severity  on  the  Brownists  ;  their 
books  were  prohibited  by  queen 
Elizabeth,  their  persons  impri- 
soned, and  some  hanged.  Brown 
himself  declared  on  his  death- bed 
that  he  had  been  in  thirty-two 
different  prisons,  in  some  of  which 
he  could  not  see  his  hand  at  noon- 
day. They  were  so  much  perse- 
cuted, that  they  resolved  at  last 
to  quit  the  country.  Accordingly 
many  retired  and  settled  at  Am- 
sterdam, whei-e  they  formed  a 
church,  and  chose  Mr.  Johnson 
their  pastor,  and  after  him  Mr. 
Ainsworth,  author  of  the  learned 
Commentary  on  the  Pentateuch. 
Their  church  floarished  *near  100 
years.  Among  the  Brownists,  too, 
were  the  famous  John  Robinson, 
a  part  of  whose  congregation  from 
Leyden,  in  Holland,  made  the  first 
permanent    settlement  in   North 


America ;  and  the  laborious  Canne, 
the  author  of  the  marginal  refer- 
ences to  the  Bible. 

BUCHANITES,  asect  of  en- 
thusiasts who  sprung  up  in  the  west 
of  Scotland  about  1783,  and 
took  their  name  from  a  Mrs, 
Buchan,  of  Glasgow,  who  gave 
herself  out  to  be  the  woman  spo- 
ken of  in  the  Revelations  ;  and 
that  all  who  believed  in  her  should 
be  taken  up  to  heaven  without 
tasting  death,  as  the  end  of  the 
world  was  near.  They  never  in- 
creased much  ;  and  the  death  of 
their  leader  within  a  year  or  two 
afterwards,  occasioned  their  dis- 
persion, by  putting  an  end  to  their 
hopes  of  reaching  the  New  Jeru- 
salem without  death. 

BUDNiEANS,  a  sect  in  Po- 
land, who  disclaimed  the  worship 
of  Christ,  and  run  into  many  wild 
hypotheses.  Budnseus,  the  foun- 
der, was  publicly  excom^municat- 
ed  in  1584,  with  all  his  disciples, 
but  afterwards  he  was  admitted  to 
the  communion  of  the  Socinian 
sect. 

BULLS  Popish,  are  letters 
called  apostolic  by  the  Canonists, 
strengthened  with  a  leaden  seal, 
and  containing  in  them  the  de- 
crees and  commandments  of  the 
pope. 

BURGHER  SECEDERS,  a 
numerous  and  respectable  class  of 
dissenters  from  the  church  of 
Scotland,  who  were  originally 
connected  with  the  associate  pres- 
bytery ;  but,  some  difference  of 
sentiment  arising  about  the  law- 
fulness of  taking  the  Burgess  oath, 
a  separation  ensued  in  1 739 ;  in 
consequence  of  which,  those  who 
plead  for  the  affirmative  obtained 


CAB 


104 


CAB 


the  appellation  of  Burgher,  and 
their  opponents  that  of  Anti- 
burgher    Seceders.      See     Sece- 

DERS. 

BURIAL,  the  interment  of  a 
deceased  person.  The  rites  of  bu- 
rial have  been  looked  upon  in  all 
countries  as  a  debt  so  sacred,  that 
such  as  neglected  to  discharge  them 
were  tliought  accursed.  Among 
the  Jews,  the  privilege  of  burial 
was  denied  only  to  self  murderers, 
who  were  thrown  out  to  putrefy 
upon  the  ground.  In  the  christian 
church,  though  good  men  always 
desired  the  privilege  of  inter- 
ment, yet  they  were  not,  like  the 
heathens,  so  concerned  lor  their 
bodies,  as  to  think  it  any  detri- 
nient  to  them  if  either  the  bar- 
barity of  an  enemy,  or  some  other 
accident,  deprived  them  of  this 
privilege.  The  primitive  church 
denied  the  more  solemn  rites  of 
burial  only  to  unbaptized  persons, 
self-murderers,  and  excommuni- 
cated persons,  who  continued  ob- 
stinate and  impenitent  in  a  mani- 
fest contempt  of  the  churches'  cen- 
sures. The  place  of  burial  among 
the  Jews  was  never  particularly 
determined.  We  find  they  had 
graves  in  the  town  and  country, 
upon  the  highway  or  gardens, 
and  upon  mountains.  Among 
the  Greeks,  the  temples  were  made 


repositories  for  the  dead,  in  the 
primitive  ages ;  yet,  in  the  latter 
ages,  the  Greeks  as  well  as  the 
Romans  buried  the  dead  without 
the  cities,  and  chiefly  by  the  high- 
ways. Among  the  primitive  chris- 
tians, burying  in  cities  was  not 
allowed  for  the  first  three  hundred 
years,  nor  in  churches  for  many 
ages  after;  the  dead  bodies  being 
first  deposited  in  the  atrium  or 
church-yard,  and  porches  and 
porticos  of  the  church  :  heredi- 
tary burying  places  were  forbid- 
den till  the  twelfth  century.  See 
Funeral  Rites.  As  to  bury- 
ing in  churches,  we  find  a  dif- 
ference of  opinion :  some  have 
thought  it  improper  that  dead 
bodies  should  be  interred  in  the 
church.  Sir  Matthew  Hale  used 
to  say,  that  churches  were  for 
the  living,  and  church-yards  for 
jthe  dead.  In  the  famous  bishop 
j  Hall's  will  we  find  this  passage : 
after  desiring  a  private  funeral, 
jhe  says,  "  I  do  not  hold  God's 
j  house  a  meet  repository  for  the 
i  dead  bodies  of  the  greatest  saints." 
Mr.  Hervey,  on  the  contrary, 
defends  it,  and  supposes  that  it 
tends  to  render  our  assemblies 
more  awful ;  and  that,  as  the  bo- 
dies of  the  saints  are  the  Lord's 
property,  they  should  be  reposed 
in  his  house. 


C. 


CABBALA,  a  Hebrew  word, 
signifying  tradition :  it  is  used  for 
a  mysterious  kind  of  science  pre^ 
tended  to  have  been  delivered  by 
revelation   to   the  ancient    Jews, 


and  transmitted  by  oral  tradition 
to  those  of  our  times  ;  serving  for 
interpretation  of  the  books  both  of 
nature  and  scripture. 
CABBALISTSjtheJewishdoc-^ 


C  AL 


105 


C  AL 


tors,  who  profess  the  study  of  the 
cabbala.  They  study  principally  the 
combination  of  particular  words, 
letters,  and  numbers  ;  and  by  this, 
they  say,  they  see  clearly  into  the 
sense  of  scripture.  In  their  opinion, 
there  is  not  a  word,  letter,  num- 
ber, or  accent,  in  the  law,  without 
some  mystery  in  it ;  and  they 
even  pretend  to  discover  what  is 
future  by  this  vain  study. 

CAINITES,  a  sect  who  sprung 
up  about  the  year  130;  so  called, 
because  they  esteemed  Cain  wor- 
thy of  the  greatest  honours.  They 
honoured  those  who  carry  in  scrip- 
ture the  most  visible  marks  of  re- 
probation ;  as  the  inhabitants  of 
Sodom,  Esau,  Korah,  Dathan, 
and  Abiram.  They  had  in  par- 
ticular great  veneration  for  Judas 
under  the  pretence  that  the  death 
of  Christ  had  saved  mankind. 

CALIXTINS,  a  branch  of  the 
Hussites  in  Bohemia  and  Mora- 
via, in  the  fifteenth  century.  The 
principal  point  in  which  they  dif- 
fered from  the  church  of  Rome 
was  the  use  of  the  chalice  (calix) 
or  communicating  in  both  kinds  : 
Calixtins  was  also  a  name  given  to 
those  among  the  Lutherans  who 
followed  the  opinions  of  George 
Calixtus,  a  celebrated  divine  in 
the  seventeenth  century,  who  en- 
deavoured to  unite  the  Romish, 
Lutheran,  and  Calvinistic  church- 
es, in  the  bonds  of  charity  and  mu- 
tual benevolence.  He  maintained, 
1.  That  the  fundamental  doctrines 
of  Christianity,  by  which  he  meant 
those  elementary  principles  whence 
all  its  truths  flow,  were  preserved 
pure  in  alt  three  communions,  and 
were  contained  in  that  ancient 
form  of  doctrine  that  is  \'u)garly 

Vol.  I.  P 


known  by  the  name  of  the  apostles* 
creed. — 2.  That  the  tenets  and 
opinions  which  have  been  con- 
stantly received  by  the  ancient 
doctors,  during  the  first  five  centu- 
ries, were  to  be  considered  as  of 
equal  truth  and  authority  with  the 
express  declarations  and  doctrines 
of  scripture. 

CALL-CALLING,  generally 
denotes  God's  invitation  to  man 
to  participate  the  blessings  of  sal- 
vation :  it  is  termed  effectual^  to 
distinguish  it  from  that  external 
or  common  call  of  the  light  of 
nature,  but  especially  of  the  gospel, 
in  which  men  are  invited  to  come 
to  God,  but  which  has  no  saving 
effect  upon  the  heart :  thus  it  is 
said,  "  Many  are  called,  but  few 
chosen,"  Matthew  xxii,  14.  Effec- 
tual calling  has  been  more  parti- 
cularly defined  to  be  "  the  work 
of  God's  Spirit,  whereby,  convinc- 
ing us  of  our  sin  and  misery,  en- 
lightening our  minds  with  the 
knowledge  of  Christ,  and  renewing 
our  wills,  he  doth  persuade  and 
enable  us  to  embrace  Jesus  Christ, 
freely  offered  to  us  in  the  gospel." 
This  may  farther  be  considered  as 
a  call  from  darkness  to  light,  1st 
Pet.  ii,  9.  from  bondage  to  liberty, 
Gal.  ii,  13.  from  the  fellowship  of 
the  world  to  the  fellowship  of 
Christ,  1st  Cor.  i,  9.  from  misery 
to  happiness,  1st  Cor.  vii,  15. 
from  sin  to  holiness,  1st  Thess.  iv, 
7.  finally,  from  all  created  good 
to  the  enjoyment  of  eternal  feli- 
city, 1st  Pet.  V,  10.  It  is  con- 
sidered in  the  scripture  as  an  holy 
calling.,  2d  Tim.  i,  9.  an  high  call- 
ings Phil,  iii,  14.  an  heavenly  call- 
ings Heb.  iii.  1.  and  -without  repent- 
ance, as  God  will  never  cast  off 


C  AL 


106 


C  A  L 


any  who  are  once  drawn  to  him, 
Rom.  xi,  29. 

It  has  been  a  matter  of  dispute 
whether  the  gospel  call  should  be 
general^  i.  e.  preached  to  all  men 
indiscriminatel}^     Some  suppose 
that,  as  the  elect  only  will  be  sav- 
ed, it  is  to  be  preached  only  to 
them  ;  and,  therefore,  cannot  in- 
vite all  to  come  to  Christ.     But 
to  this  it  is  answered,  that  an  un- 
known decree  can  be  no  rule  of 
action,  Deut.  xxix,  29.   Prov.  ii. 
13.  that,  as  we  know  not  who  are 
the  elect,  we  cannot  tell  but  he 
may  succeed  our  endeavours  by 
enabling  those  who  are  addressed 
to  comply  with  the  call,  and  be- 
lieve ;    that    it   is   the    christian 
minister's  commission  to  preach 
the  gospel  to  every  creature,  Mark 
xvi,  1 5.  That  the  inspired  writers 
never  confinedthemselves  to  preach 
to  saints  only,  but  reasoned  with 
and  persuaded  sinners,  2d  Cor.  v, 
11: — and,   lastly,  that  a   general 
address  to  men's  consciences  has 
been  greatly  successful  in  promot- 
ing their  conversion.  Acts  ii,  23, 
41.  But  it  has  been  asked,  if  none 
but  the  elect  can  believe,  and  no 
man  has  any  ability  in  himself  to 
comply  with  the  call,  and  as  the 
Almighty   knows   that   none   but 
'  those  to  whom  he  gives  grace  can 
be  effectually  called,  of  what  use 
is  it  to  insist  on  a  general  and  ex- 
ternal call  ?  To  this  it  is  answered, 
that,  by  the   external  call,  gross 
enormous  crimes  are  often  avoid- 
ed ;  habits  of  vice  have  been  part- 
ly conquered ;    and   much  moral 
good  at  least  has  been  produced. 
It  is  also  observed,  that  though 
a  man  cannot  convert  himself,  yet 
he  has  a  pov/er  to  do  some  things 
that  are  materially  good,  though 


not  good  in  all  those  circumstan- 
ces that  accompany  or  flow  from 
regeneration :  such  were  Ahab's 
humility,  1st  Kings  xxi,  29.  Nine- 
veh's repentance,  Jer.  iii,  5.  and 
Herod's  hearing  of  John,  Mark  vi, 
20.  On  th"  whole,  the  design  of 
God  in  giving  this  common  call  in 
the  gospel  is  the  salvation  of  his 
people,  the  restraining  of  many 
from  wicked  practices,  and  the 
setting  forth  of  the  glorious  work 
of  redemption  by  Jesus  Christ. 
See  Gill  and  Ridgleifs  Body  of 
Div.;  Witsius  on  the  Cov. ;  and 
articles  Conversion,  Exhorta- 
tion, Faith,  Regeneration. 

CALVINISTS,  those  who 
embrace  the  doctrine  and  senti- 
ments of  Calvin,  the  celebrated 
reformer  of  the  christian  church 
from  Romish  superstition  and  doc- 
trinal errors. 

John  Calvin  was  born  at  Nogen, 
in  Picardy,  in  the  year  1509.  He 
first  studied  the  civil  law,  and  was 
afterwards  made  professor  of  di- 
vinity at  Geneva,  in  the  year 
1536.  His  genius,  learning,  elo- 
quence, and  piety,  rendered  him 
respectable  even  in  the  eyes  of  his 
enemies. 

The  name  of  Calvinists  seems 
to  have  been  given  at  first  to  those 
who  embraced  not  merely  the 
doctrine,  but  the  church  govern- 
ment and  discipline  established  at 
Geneva,  and  to  distinguish  them 
from  the  Lutherans.  But  since 
die  meeting  of  the  synod  of  Dort, 
the  name  has  been  chiefly  appli- 
ed to  those  who  embrace  his  lead- 
ing views  of  the  gospel,  to  distin- 
guish them  from  the  Arminians. 

The  leading  principles  taught 
by  Calvin  were  the  same  as  those 
of  Augustine.  The  main  doctrines 


CAL 


107 


CAL 


by  which  those  who  are  called  af- 
ter his  name  are  distinguished 
from  the  Arminians,  are  reduced 
to  five  articles  ;  and  which,  from 
their  being  the  principal  points 
discussed  at  the  synod  of  Dort, 
have  since  been  denominated  the 
five  points.  These  are,  predesti- 
nation, particular  redemption,  total 
depravity,  effectual  calling,  and  the 
certain  perseverance  of  the  saints. 

The  following  statement  is  tak- 
en principally  from  the  writings  of 
Calvin,  and  the  decisions  at  Dort, 
compressed  in  as  few  Vv^ords  as 
possible. 

1.  They  maintain  that  God  hath 
chosen  a  certain  number  of  the 
fallen  race  of  Adam  in  Christ,  be- 
fore the  foundation  of  the  world, 
unto  eternal  glory,  according  to  his 
immutable  purpose,  and  of  his  free 
grace  and  love,  without  the  least 
foresight  of  faith,  good  works,  or 
any  conditions  performed  by  the 
creature  ;  and  that  the  rest  of  man- 
kind he  was  pleased  to  pass  by, 
and  ordain  to  dishonour  and 
v.^rath,  for  their  sins,  to  the  praise 
of  his  vindictive  justice. 

In  proof  of  this  they  allege, 
among  many  other  scripture  pas- 
sages, the  following:  "according 
as  he  hath  chosen  us  in  him  before 
the  foundation  of  the  world,  that 
we  should  be  holy,  and  without 
blame  before  him  in  love. — For  he 
saith  to  Moses,  I  will  have  mercy 
on  whom  I  will  have  mercy,  and 
I  will  have  compassion  on  whom 
I  will  have  compassion.  So,  then, 
it  is  not  of  him  that  willeth,  nor  of 
him  that  runneth,  but  of  God, 
that  sheweth  mercy.  Thou  wilt 
say,  then,  why  doth  he  yet  find 
fault  J  for  who   hath  resisted  his 


M'ill  ?  Nay,  but  O !  man,  who 
art  thou  that  repliest  against  God  ? 
Shall  the  thing  formed  say  to  him 
that  formed  it.  Why  hast  thou 
made  me  thus  ?  Hath  not  the  pot- 
ter power  over  the  clay,  of  the 
same  lump,  to  make  one  vessel 
unto  honour,  and  another  to  dis- 
honour?— Hath  God  cast  away 
his  people  whom  he  foreknew  P 
Wot  ye  not  what  the  scripture 
saith  of  Elias?  Even  so  at  this 
present  time,  also,  there  is  a  rem- 
nant according  to  the  election  of 
grace.  And  if  b}'^  grace,  then  it 
is  no  more  of  works.  What  then? 
Israel  hath  not  obtained  that  which 
he  seeketh  for,  but  the  election 
hath  obtained  it^  and  the  rest  are 
blinded. — Whom  he  did  predesti- 
nate^ them  he  also  called. — We 
give  thanks  to  God  always  for 
you,brethren,belovedof  the  Lord, 
because  God  hath  from  the^-fee- 
ginning  chosen  you  to  salvation^ 
through  sanctification  of  the  Spirit 
and  belief  of  the  truth. — As  many 
as  were  ordained  to  eternal  life, 
believed."  Eph.  i,  4.  Rom.  ix.  xi, 
1-6.  viii.  29,  30.  2d  Thess.  ii,  13. 
Acts  xiii,  48.  They  think  also 
that  the  greater  part  of  these  pas- 
sages, being  found  in  the  episto- 
lary writings,  after  the  pouring 
out  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  who  was 
promis.ed  to  guide  the  apostles  in- 
to all  truth,  is  an  argument  in  fa- 
vour of  the  doctrine. 

They  do  not  consider  predesti- 
nation, however,  as  affecting  the 
agency  or  accountableness  of  crea- 
tures, or  as  being  to  them  any 
rule  of  conduct.  On  the  contrary, 
they  suppose  them  to  act  as  freely, 
and  to  be  as  much  the  proper  sub- 
jects of  calls,  warnings,  exhorta- 


C  AL 


108 


C  AL 


tions,  promises,  and  threatenings, 
as  if  no  decree  existed.  The  con- 
nexion in  %yhich  the  doctrine  is 
introduced  by  the  divines  at  Dort, 
is  to  account  for  one  sinner's  be- 
lieving and  being  saved  rather 
than  another ;  and  such,  the  Cal- 
vinists  say,  is  the  connexion  which 
it  occupies  in  the  scriptures. 

With  respect  to  the  conditional 
predestination  admitted  by  the 
Arminians,  they  say  that  an  elec- 
tion upon  faith  or  good  works 
foreseen,  is  not  that  of  the  scrip- 
tures ;  for  that  election  is  there 
made  the  cause  of  faith  and  holi- 
ness, and  cannot,  for  this  reason, 
be  the  effect  of  them.  With  re- 
gard to  predestination  to  deaths 
they  say,  if  the  question  be, 
Wherefore  did  God  decree  to  pu- 
nish those  who  are  punished  ?  the 
answer  is,  On  account  of  their 
sins.  But  if  it  be.  Wherefore  did 
he  decree  to  punish  them  rather 
than  others  ?  there  is  no  other 
reason  to  be  assigned,  but  that  so 
it  seemed  good  in  his  sight.  Eph.  i. 
3,4.  John  vi,  37.  Rom.  viii.  29, 
30.  Acts  xiii,  48.  1st  Pet.  i,  1. 
Eom.  ix,  15,  16.  xi,  5,  6. 

2.  They  maintain  that  though 
the  death  of  Christ  be  a  most  per- 
fect sacrifice,  and  satisfaction  for 
sins,  of  infinite  value,  abundantly 
sufficient  to  expiate  the  sins  of  the 
>vhole  world  ;  and  though  on  this 
ground  the  gospel  is  to  be  preach- 
ed to  allmankindindiscriminately ; 
yet  it  was  the  will  of  God  that 
Christ,  by  the  blood  of  the  cross, 
should  efficaciously  redeem  all 
those,  and  those  only,,  who  were 
from  eternity  elected  to  salvation, 
and  given  to  him  by  the  Father. 
Calvin    does    not    appear    to 


have   written  on   this  subject  as 
a  controversy,  but  his  comments 
on  scripture  agree  M-ith  the  above 
statement.     The   following  posi- 
tions are  contained  in  the  resolu- 
tions of  the  synod  of  Dort,  under 
this   head     of    doctrine  :— "  The 
death  of  the  Son  of  God  is  the 
only    and   most   perfect  sacrifice 
and  satisfaction  for   sins,  of  infi- 
nite value   and  price,  abundantly 
sufficient  to  expiate  the  sins  of  the 
whole  world. — The  promise  of  the 
gospel  is,  that  whosoever  belie veth 
in  Christ  crucified  shall  not  perish, 
but  have   everlasting  life  ;  which 
promise,  together  with  the  com- 
mand to  repent  and  believe,  ought 
promiscuously  and  indiscriminate- 
ly to  be  published  and  proposed  to 
all  people  and  individuals,  to  whom 
God  in  his  good  pleasure  sends  the 
gospel. — Whereas,  many  who  are 
called  by  the  gospel  do  not  repent 
nor  believe  in  Christ,  but  perish 
in    unbelief;  this    proceeds    not 
from  any  defect  or  insufficiency  in 
the  sacrifice  of  Christ  offered  on 
the  cross,    but   from    their    own 
fault. — As  many  as  truly  believe, 
and  are    saved  by  the    death  of 
Christ  from  their  sins,  and  from 
destruction,  have  to  ascribe  it  to 
the  mere  favour  of  God,  which  he 
owes  to  no  one,  given  them  in 
Christ     from     eternity. — For    it 
was  the    most  free  counsel,  and 
gracious    xvill    and    ijitention    of 
God  the  F'ather,  that  the  quick- 
ening and  saving  efficacy  of  the 
most  precious  death  of   his  Son 
should    exert    itself    in    all    the 
elect,    to   give    unto    them    only 
justifying    faith,    and    by    it    to 
conduct    them   infallibly    to    sal- 
vation; that  is,  it  was  the  Vi'ill  of 


C  AL 


109 


C  AL 


God  that  Christ,  by  the  blood  of 
the  cross,  whereby  he  confirmed 
the  new  covenant,  should  efficaci- 
ously redeem  out  of  every  people, 
tribe,  nation,  and  language,  all 
those,  and  those  only,  who  where 
from  eternity  elected  to  salva- 
tion, and  given  to  him  by  the  Fa- 
ther." 

i  These  positions  they  appear  to 
have  considered  as  not  only  a  de- 
claration of  the  truth,  but  an  an- 
swer to  the  arguments  of  the  Re- 
naonstrants. 

In    proof    the    doctrine,    they 
allege  among  others  the  following 
scripture  passages  :    "  Thou  hast 
given  him  power  over  all  flesh, 
that  he  should  give  eternal  life  to 
as  many  as  thou  hast  given  him. — 
The  good  shepherd  giveth  his  life 
for  the  sheep,— —1  lay  down  my  life 
for  the  sheep. — He  died  not  for 
that  nation  only,  but  that  he  might 
gather  together  in  one  the  children 
of  God  that  are  scattered  abroad, — 
He  gave  himself  for  us,  that  he 
might  redeem  us  from  all  iniquitij^ 
and  purify  unto  himself  a  peculiar 
people^  zealous  ofgoodxvorks, — He 
loved  the  churchy  and  gave  himself 
for  it^  that  he  might  sanctify  and 
cleanse  it,  and  present  it  to  him- 
self, &c. — And  they  sang  a  new 
song,  saying, Thou  art  worthy;  for 
thou  wast  slain,  and  hast  redeemed 
us   to   God  by  thy   bloody    out    of 
every   kindred,  and  tongue,  and 
people,  and  nation."     John  xvii, 
2.  X.  11,  15.  xi,  52.  Tit.  ii,   14. 
Eph.  V,  25.  27.  Rev.  v,  9. 
'  3.  They  maintain  that  mankind 
are   totally   depraved,    in   conse- 
quence of  the  fall  of  the  first  man, 
who,  being  their  public  head,  his 
sin  involved  the  corruption  of  iill 


his  posterity  ;  and  which  corrup- 
tion extends  over  the  whole  soul, 
and  renders  it  unable  to  turn  to 
God,  or  to  do  any  thing  truly 
good,  and  exposes  it  to  his  right- 
eous displeasure,  both  in  this  world 
and  that  which  is  to  come. 

The  explanation  of  original  sin, 
as  given  by  Calvin,  is  as  follows : 
••'  Original  sin  seems  to  be  the  in- 
heritable descending  perverseness 
and  corruption  of  our  nature, 
poured  abroad  into  all  the  parts 
of  the  soul,  which  first  maketh  us 
deserving  of  God's  wrath,  and 
then  also  bringeth  forth  those 
works  in  us,  called,  in  scripture, 
the  rvorks  of  the  fiesh.  These  two 
things  are  distinctly  to  be  rioted, 
that  is,  that,  being  thus  in  all  parts 
of  our  nature  corrupted  and  per- 
verted, we  are  now,  even  for  such 
corruption  onlj',  holden  worthy  of 
damnation,  and  stand  convicted 
before  God,  to  whom  nothing  is 
acceptable  but  righteousness,  in- 
nocence, and  purity.  And  yet  we 
are  not  bound  in  respect  of  an- 
other's lault ;  for  where  it  is  said 
that  by  the  sin  of  Adam  we  are 
made  subject  to  the  judgment  of 
God,  Rom.  V,  18.  it  is  not  so  to 
be  taken,  as  if  we,  innocent  and 
undeserving,  did  bear  the  blame  of 
his  fault ;  but  as,  in  consequence 
of  his  offence,  we  are  ultimately 
clothed  with  the  curse,  therefore 
it  is  said  that  he  hath  bound  us. 
Nevertheless  from  him  not  the  pu- 
nishment only  came  upon  us,  but 
also  the  infection  distilled  from 
him  abideth  in  us,  to  the  which  the 
punishment  is  justly  due." 

The  resolutions  of  the  divines 
at  Dort  on  this  head  contain  the 
following   positions.     "   Such  as 


C  AL 


110 


C  AL 


man  was  after  the  fall,  such  chil- 
dren did  he  beget — corruption 
by  the  righteous  judgment  of 
God  being  derived  from  Adam 
to  his  posterity — ^not  by  imitation, 
but  by  the  propagation  of  a  vitious 
nature.  Wherefore  all  men  are 
conceived  in  sin,  and  are  born  the 
children  of  wrath,  unfit  for  every 
good  connected  with  salvation, 
prone  to  evil,  dead  in  sins,  and 
the  servants  of  sin ;  and  without 
the  Holy  Spirit  regenerating  them, 
they  neither  will  nor  can  return  to 
God,  amend  their  depraved  na- 
tures, nor  dispose  themselves  for 
its  amendment. 

In  proof  of  this  doctrine,  the 
Calvinists  allege,  among  other 
scripture  passages,  the  following: 
"^  By  one  man  sin  entered  into 
the  world,  and  death  by  sin;  and 
so  death  passed  upon  all  men,  for 
that  all  have  sinned. — By  one 
man*s  disobedience  many  were 
made  sinners. — I  was  born  in  sin, 
and  shapen  in  iniquity. — God  saw 
that  the  wickedness  of  man  was 
great  upon  the  earth,  and  that 
every  imagination  of  his  heart  was 
only  evil  continually. — God  looked 
down  from  heaven  upon  the  chil- 
dren of  men,  to  see  if  there  were 
any  that  did  understand,  that  did 
seek  God. — Every  one  of  them  is 
gone  back ;  they  are  altogether  be- 
come filthy ;  there  is  none  that  doeth 
good,  no  not  one. — And  you  hath 
he  quickened  who  were  dead  in 
trespasses  and  sins.  Wherein  in 
time  past  ye  walked  according  to 
the  course  of  this  world — among 
whom  also  rve  all  had  our  conver- 
sation in  times  past,  in  the  lust  of 
cur  fleshy  fulfilling  the  desires  of 
the  flesh  and  of  the  mind ;    and 


v/ere   hij   nature   the   children    of 
xvrath^  even  as  others.''''  Rom.  v, 
12-19.  Ps.  li,  5.   Gen.  vi,   5.  Ps. 
liii,  2,  3.  Rom.  iii.  Eph.  ii,  1-3. 

4.  They  maintain  that  all  whom 
God  hath  predestinated  unto  life, 
he  is  pleased,  in  his  appointed  time, 
effectually  to  call  by  his  word  and 
spirit  out  of  that  state  of  sin  and 
death  in  which  they  are  by  nature, 
to  grace  and  salvation  bv  Jesus 
Christ. 

They  admit  that  the  Holy  Spirit, 
as  calling  men  by  the  ministry  of 
the  gospel,  may  be  resisted ;  and 
that  where  this  is  the  case,  "  the 
fault  is  not  in  the  gospel,  nor  in 
Christ  offered  by  the  gospel,  nor 
in  God  calling  by  the  gospel,  and 
also  conferring  various  gifts  upon 
them ;  but  in  the  called  them- 
selves. They  contend,  however, 
that  where  men  come  at  the  di- 
vine call,  and  are  converted,  it  is' 
not  to  be  ascribed  to  themselves, 
as  though  by  their  own  free  will 
they  made  themselves  to  differ, 
but  merely  to  him  who  delivers 
them  from  the  power  of  darkness, 
and  translates  them  into  the  king- 
dom of  his  dear  Son,  and  whose 
regenerating  influence  is  certain 
and  efficacious." 

In  proof  of  this  doctrine  the  Cal- 
vinists allege,  among  others,  the  fol- 
lowing scripture  passages :  "Whom 
he  did  predestinate,  them  he  also 
called;  and  whom  he  called,  them 
he  also  glorified. — That  ye  may 
know  what  is  the  exceeding  great- 
ness of  his  power  to  us-ward  who 
believe,  according  to  the  working 
of  his  mighty  power,  which  he 
wrought  in  Christ  when  he  raised 
him  from  the  dead. — Not  of  works, 
lest  any  man  should  boast.     For 


C  AL 


111 


C  AL 


we  are  his  workmanships  created  \n 
Christ  Jesus  unto  good  works. — 
God,  that  commanded  the  light  to 
shine  out  of  darkness,  hath  shined 
into  our  hearts,  &c. — I  will  take 
away  the  stony  heart  out  of  their 
flesh,  and  will  give  them  hearts  of 
flesh."  Rom.  viii,  29.  Eph.  i.  19, 
20.  ii,  9,  10.  2d  Cor.  iv,  6.  Ezek. 
xxxvi,  26. 

5.  Lastly :  They  maintain  that 
those  whom  God  has  effectually 
called,  and  sanctified  by  his  Spi- 
rit, shall  never  finally  fall  from 
a  state  of  grace.  They  admit 
that  true  believers  may-  fall  par- 
tially, and  would  fall  totally  and 
finally  but  for  the  mercy  and  faith- 
fulness of  God,  who  keepeth  the 
feet  of  his  saints;  also,  that  he 
who  bestoweth  the  grace  of  per- 
severance, bestoweth  it  by  means 
of  reading  and  hearing  the  word, 
meditation,  exhortations,  threat- 
enings,  and  promises  ;  but  that 
none  of  these  things  imply  the  pos- 
sibility of  a  believer's  falling  from 
a  state  of  of  justification. 

In  proof  of  this  doctrine  they 
allege  the  following  among  other 
scripture  passages  : — "  I  will  put 
my  fear  in  their  hearts,  ajid  they 
shall  not  depart  from  me. — He  that 
believeth,  and  is  baptized,  shall  be 
saved. — The  water  that  I  shall 
give  him  shall  be  in  him  a  well  of 
water  springing  up  into  everlasting 
life. — This  is  the  Father's  will, 
that  of  all  xvhich  he  hath  given  me 
I  should  lose  nothing. — This  is 
life  eternal^  to  know  thee,  the 
only  true  God,  and  Jesus  Christ 
whom  thou  hast  sent. — Whosoever 
is  born  of  God  doth  not  commit 
sin,  for  his  seed  remaineth  in  him ; 
and  he  cannot  sin,  because  he  is 


born  of  God* — They  went  out 
from  us^  but  they  were  not  of  us  ; 
for  if  they  had  been  of  us^  they 
would  have  continued  with  us: 
but  they  went  out,  that  they  might 
be  made  manifest  that  they  were 
not  all  of  us. — Now  unto  him 
that  is  able  to  keep  you  from  fallings 
and  to  present  you  faidtless  before 
the  presence  of  his  glory  with  ex- 
ceeding joy,  to  the  only  wise  God 
our  Saviour,  be  glory  and  majesty, 
dominion  and  power, both  now  and 
ever,  amen."  Jer.  xxxii,  40.  Mark 
xvi,  16.  John  iv,  14.  vi,  40.  xvii, 
3.  1st  John  iii,  9.  ii,  19.  Jude  24. 
25. 

Such  were  the  doctrines  of  the 
old  Calvinists,  and  such  in  sub- 
stance are  those  of  the  present 
times.  In  this,  however,  as  in 
every  other  denomination,there  are 
considerable  shades  of  difference. 

Some  think  Calvin, though  right 
in  the  main,  yet  carried  things  too 
far  ;  these  are  commonly  known 
by  the  name  of  Mo deraie  Calvinists. 
Others  think  he  did  not  go  far 
enough ;  and  these  are  known  by 
the  name  of  High  Calvinists. 

It  is  proper  to  add,  that  the 
Calvinistic  system  includes  in  it 
the  doctrine  of  three  co-ordinate 
persons  in  the  Godhead,  in  one  na- 
ture, and  of  two  natures  in  Jesus 
Christ,  forming  one  person.  Jus- 
tification by  faith  alone,  or  justi- 
fication by  the  imputed  righteous- 
ness of  Christ,  forms  also  an  es- 
sential part  of  this  system..  They 
suppose  that  on  the  one  hand  our 
sins  are  imputed  to  Christ,  and  on 
the  other  that  we  are  justified  by 
the  imputation  of  Christ's  righte- 
ousness to  us  ;  that  is,  Christ,  the 
innocent,  was  treated  by  God  as 


C  AL 


112 


C  AM 


if  he  were  guilty,  that  we,  the 
guilty,  might,  out  of  regard  to 
what  he  did  and  suffered,  be  treat- 
ed as  if  we  were  innocent  and 
righteous. 

Calvinisnl  originally  subsisted  in 
its  greatest  purity  in  the  city  of 
Geneva ;  from  which  place  it  was 
first  propagated  into  Germany, 
France,  the  United  Provinces,  and 
Britain.  In  France  it  was  abolish- 
ed by  the  edict  of  Nantz,  in  1685. 
It 'has  been  the  prevailing  religion 
in  the  United  Provinces  ever  since 
1571.  The  theological  system  of 
Calvin  was  adopted  and  made 
the  public  rule  of  faith  in  Eng- 
land under  the  reign  of  Edward 
VI.  The  church  of  Scotland  also 
was  modelled  by  John  Knox, 
agreeably  to  the  doctrine,  rites, 
and  form  of  ecclesiastical  govern- 
ment established  at  Geneva.  In 
England,  Calvinism  had  been  on 
the  decline  from  the  time  of 
queen  Elizabeth  until  about  sixty 
years  ago,  when  it  was  again  re- 
vived, and  has  been  on  the  increase 
ever  since.  The  major  part  of  the 
clergy,  indeed,  are  not  Calvinists, 
though  the  articles  of  the  church 
of  England  are  Calvinistical.  It 
deserves  to  be  remarked,  how- 
ever, that  Calvinism  is  preached 
in  a  considerable  number  of  the 
churches  in  London ;  in  nearly  all 
thedissenting  meetings  of  the  Pres- 
byterians, Baptists,  and  Independ- 
ents ;  and  in  all  the  chapels  of 
Whitfield,  Lady  Huntingdon,  and 
others  of  that  class.  In  Scotland  it 
continues  also  to  exist  as  the  esta- 
blished religion  ;  and  within  a  few 
years  it  has  much  revived  in  that 
country,  through  the  influence  of 
Mr.  Ilaldane  and  others  ;  but  as 


those  among  whom  this  revival 
has  taken  place  are  not  of  the 
established  church,  they  have  been 
treated  with  indifference  by  the 
clergy,  and  called  Haldanists. 

Calvin  considered  every  church 
as  a  separate  and  independent 
body,  invested  with  the  power 
of  legislation  for  itself.  He  pro- 
posed that  it  should  be  governed 
by  presbyteries  and  synods  com- 
posed of  clergy  and  laity,  with- 
out bishops,  or  any  clerical  sub- 
ordination ;  and  maintained  that 
the  province  of  the  civil  magis- 
trate extended  only  to  its  protec- 
tion and  outward  accommoda- 
tion. He  acknowledged  a  real 
though  spiritual  presence  of  Christ 
in  the  eucharist ;  and  he  confined 
the  privilege  of  communion  to 
pious  and  regenerate  believers. 
These  sentiments,  however,  are 
not  imbibed  by  all  who  are  called 
Calvinists. 

See  Calvhi's  Institutes  ;  Life  of 
Calvin;  Brine'' s  Tracts ;  fonathan 
Edwards's  Works  ;  GiWs  Cause  of 
God  and  Truth;  Topladf  s  Historic 
Proof  and  Works  at  large;  Assem- 
bly''s  Catechism  ;  Fidler'' s  Calvinistic 
and  Socinian  Systems  campared. 

CAMALDOLITES,  an  order 
founded  by  St.  Romuald,  an  Italian 
fanatic,  in  the  eleventh  century. 
The  manner  of  life  he  enjoined  his 
disciples  to  observe  was  this  : — 
They  dwelt  in  separate  cells,  and 
met  together  only  at  the  time  of 
prayer.  Some  of  them,  during 
the  two  Lents  in  the  year,  observ- 
ed an  inviolable  silence,  and  others 
for  the  space  of  a  hundred  days. 
On  Sundays  and  Thursdays  they 
fed  on  herbs,  and  the  rest  of  the 
week  only  on  bread  and  water. 


CAM 


113 


CAN 


CAMBRIDGE  MANUSCRIPT, 
a  copy  of  the  gospels  and  Acts  of 
the  Apostles,  in  Greek  and  Latin. 
Beza  found  it  in  the  monastery  of 
Irenseus,  at  Lyons,  in  1562,  and 
gave  it  to  the  university  of  Cam- 
bridge in  1582.  It  is  a  quarto, 
and  written  on  vellum  :  sixty- six 
leaves  of  it  are  much  torn  and 
mutilated ;  and  ten  of  these  are 
supplied  by  a  later  transcriber. 
From  this  and  the  Clermont  copy 
of  St.  Paul's  epistles,  Beza  publish- 
ed his  larger  annotations  in  1582. 
See  Dr.  Kiplingh  edition  of  it. 

CAMERONIANS,  a  sect  in 
Scotland,  who  separated  from  the 
Presbyterians  in  1666,  and  con- 
tinued long  to  hold  their  religious 
assemblies  in  the  fields.  They 
took  their  name  from  Richard 
Cameron,  a  famous  field-preacher, 
who,  refusing  to  accept  the  in- 
dulgence to  tender  consciences, 
granted  by  king  Charles  XL, 
thinking  such  an  acceptance  an 
acknowledgment  of  the  king's 
supremacy,  made  a  defection  from 
his  brethren,  and  even  headed  a 
rebellion,  in  which  he  was  killed. 
The  Cameronians  adhere  rigidly 
to  the  form  of  government  esta- 
blished in  1648.  There  are  not, 
it  is  said,  above  fourteen  or  fifteen 
congregations  among  them,  and 
these  not  large. 

CAMERONIANS, or  Came- 
RONITES,  the  denomination  of  a 
party  of  Calvinists  in  France, 
who  asserted  that  the  will  of  man 
is  only  determined  by  the  practi- 
cal judgment  of  the  mind  ;  that 
the  cause  of  men's  doing  good  or 
evil  proceeds  from  the  knowledge 
which  God  infuses  into  them ; 
and   that   God    does    not    move 

Vol.  L  Q 


the  will  physically,  but  only  mo- 
rally, in  virtue  of  its  depend- 
ence on  the  judgment.  They  had 
this  name  from  John  Cameron, 
who  was  born  at  Glasgow  in 
1580,  and  who  was  professor 
there,  and  afterwards  at  Bour- 
deaux,  Sedan,  and  Saumur.  The 
synod  of  Dort  was  severe  upon 
them ;  yet  it  seems  the  only  differ- 
ence was  this: — The  synod  had 
defined  that  God  not  only  illu- 
minates the  understanding,  but 
gives  motion  to  the  will,  by  mak- 
ing an  internal  change  therein. 
Cameron  only  admitted  the  illu- 
mination whereby  the  mind  is  mo- 
rally moved ;  and  explained  the 
sentiment  of  the  synod  of  Dort  so 
as  to  make  the  two  opinions  con- 
sistent. 

CANDOUR  is  a  disposition  to 
form  a  fair  and  impartial  judgment 
on  the  opinions  and  actions  of 
others  ;  or  a  temper  of  mind  un- 
soured  by  envy,  unruffled  by  ma- 
lice, and  unseduced  by  prejudice ; 
sweet  without  weakness,  and  im- 
partial without  rigour.  Candour 
is  a  word  which,  in  the  present  day, 
is  found  exceedingly  convenient. 
To  the  infidel  it  is  a  shelter  for  his 
skepticism,  to  the  ignorant  for  his 
ignorance,  to  the  lukewarm  for 
his  indifference,  and  to  the  irreli- 
gious for  their  error.  "  True  can- 
dour is  different  from  that  guard- 
ed, inoffensive  language,  and  that 
studied  openness  of  behaviour, 
which  we  so  frequently  meet  with 
among  men  of  the  world.  It  con- 
sists not  in  fairness  of  speech  only, 
but  in  fairness  of  heart.  It  is  not 
blind  attachment,  external  cour- 
tesy, or  a  time-serving  principle. 
Exempt,  on  the  one  hand,  from 


CAN 


114. 


CAN 


the  dark  jealousy  of  a  suspicious 
mind,  it  is  no  less  removed,  on  the 
other,  from  that  easy  credulity 
which  is  imposed  on  by  every  spe- 
cious pretence.  Its  manners  are 
unaiFected,  and  its  professions  sin- 
cere. , '  It  conceals  faults,  but  it 
does  not  invent  virtues.'  In  fine, 
it  is  the  happy  medium  bet'.yeen 
undistinguishing  credulity  and  uni- 
versal suspicion."  .  See  Libera- 
lity. 

CANON,  a  word  used  to  denote 
the  authorized  catalogue  of  the  sa- 
cred writings.  "  The  Greek  word 
vMt'xv^  says  Dr.  Owen,  "  which 
gives  rise  to  the  term  canonical 
seems  to  be  derived  from  the  He- 
brew FDp,  kaneh,  which  in  general 
signifies  any  reed  whatever,  1st 
Kings  xiv,  15.  Isa.  xlii,  3,  and  par- 
ticularly a  reed  made  into  an  in- 
strument, wherewith  they  mea- 
sured their  buildings,  containing 
six  cubits  in  length,  Ezek.  xl,  7. 
Ezek.xlii,  16,  and  hence  indefinite- 
ly it  is  taken  for  a  rule  or  measure. 
Besides,  it  signifies  the  beam  and 
tongue  of  a  balance,  Isa.  xlvi,  6. 
*■  They  weighed  silver  on  the  cane; 
that  is,  saith  the  Targum^ '  In  the 
balance.'  This  also  is  the  primary 
and  proper  signification  of  the 
Greek  word.  Hence  its  metapho- 
rical use,  which  is  most  common, 
wherein  it  signifies  a  moral  rule. 
Aristotle  calls  the  law  Kavov^c  rr,s 
•TroKiliixs,  the  rule  of  the  administra- 
tion ;  and  hence  it  is  that  the  writ- 
ten word  of  God  being  in  itself 
absolutely  rzght^  and  appointed  to 
be  the  rule  of  faith  and  obedience, 
is  eminently  called  '  canonical.' " 

The  ancient  canon  of  the  books 
of  the  Old  Testament,  ordinarily 
attributed  to  Ezra,  was  divided 


into  the  law,  the  prophets,  and 
the  hagiogi-aphia,  to  which  our  Sa- 
viour refers,  Luke  xxiv,  45.  The 
sa.me  division  is  also  mentioned 
by  Josephus.  This  is  the  canon 
allowed  to  have  been  followed 
by  the  primitive  church  till  the 
council  of  Carthage ;  and,  accord- 
ing to  Jerome,  this  consisted  of 
no  more  than  twenty-two  books, 
answering  to  the  number  of  the 
Hebrew  alphabet,  though  at  pre- 
sent they  are  classed  into  twenty- 
four  divisions.  Thr^t  council  en- 
larged the  canon  very  considera- 
bly, taking  into  it  the  apocryphal 
books  ;  which  the  council  of  Trent 
farther  enforced,  enjoining  them 
to  be  received  as  books  of  holy 
scripture,  upon  pain  of  anathema. 
The  Romanists,  in  defence  of 
this  canon,  say,  that  it  is  the  same 
with  that  of  the  council  of  Hippo 
held  in  393  ;  and  with  that  of  the 
third  council  of  Carthage  in  397  ; 
at  which  were  present  forty-six 
bishops,  and  among  the  rest  St. 
Augustine.  Their  canon  of  the 
New  Testament,  however,  perfect- 
ly agrees  v/ith  ours.  It  consists  of 
books  that  are  well  known,  some 
of  v/hich  have  been  universally 
acknowledged  :  such  are  the  four 
gospels,  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles, 
thirteen  epistles  of  St.  Paul,  first 
of  St.  Peter,  and  first  of  St.  John  ; 
and  others,  concerning  which 
doubts  were  entertained,  but 
which  were  afterwards  received 
as  genuine;  such  are  the  epistle 
to  the  Hebrews,  that  of  James, 
the  second  of  Peter,  the  second 
and  thiixl  of  John,  that  of  Jude, 
and  the  Revelation.  These  books 
were  written  at  different  times; 
and    they  are    authenticated   not 


CAN 


115 


CAN 


by  the  decrees  of  councils,  or  in- 
fallible authority,  but  by  such 
evidence  as  is  thought  sufficient  in 
the  case  of  any  other  ancient  writ- 
ings. They  were  extensively  dif- 
fused, and  read  in  every  christian 
society  ;  they  were  valued  and  pre- 
served with  care  by  the  first  chris- 
tians ;  they  were  cited  by  christian 
writers  of  the  second,  third,  and 
fourth, centuries,  as  Irenseus,  Cle- 
ment the  Alexandrian,  Tertul- 
lian,  Origen,  Eusebius,  &c.;  and 
their  genuineness  is  proved  by 
the  testimony  of  those  who  were 
contemporary  with  the  apostles 
themselves.  The  four  gospels, 
and  most  of  the  other  books  of 
the  New  Testament,  were  collect- 
ed either  by  one  of  the  apostles, 
or  some  of  their  disciples  and  suc- 
cessors, before  the  end  of  the  first 
century.  The  catalogue  of  cano- 
nical books  furnished  by  the  more 
ancient  christian  writers,  as  Origen, 
about  A.  D.  210,  Eusebius  and 
Athanasius  in  315,  Epiphanius 
in  370,  Jerome  in  382,  Austin  in 
394,  and  many  others,  agrees  with 
that  which  is  now  received  among 
christians. 

See  articles  Bible,  Chris- 
tianity, Scriptures;  Blair's 
Canon  of  Scripture  ;  Jones's  Cano- 
nical Authority  of  the  New  Test.; 
Blichaelis' s  Led.  on  theNexv  Test.; 
Du  Fin's  Canon  of  Script.^  v.  i ; 
Prideaux's  Connexions,  v.  \;  Dr. 
Owen  on  Hebrews^  Introd. 

CANON,  a  person  who  pos- 
sesses a  prebend  or  revenue  allot- 
ted for  the  performance  of  divine 
service  in  a  cathedral  or  collegiate 
c!mrch.  Canons  are  of  no  great  an- 
tiquity. Paschier  observes,  that  the 
name  was  iiot  kno\Mi  before  Clrar- 


lemagne  ;  at  least,  the  first  we  hear 
of  are  in  Gregory  de  Tours,  who 
mentions  a  college  of  canons  insti- 
tuted by  Baldwin  XVI,  archbi- 
shop of  that  city,  in  the  tinae  of 
Clotharius  I.  The  common  opi- 
nion attributes  the  institution  of 
this  order  to  Chrodegangus,  bishop 
of  Mentz,  about  the  middle  of 
the  eighth  century. 

CANON,  in  an  ecclesiastical 
sense,  is  a  rule  either  of  doctrine 
or  discipline,  enacted  especialiyby 
a  council,  and  confirmed  by  the 
authority  of  the  sovereign.  Canons 
are  properly  decisions  of  matters 
of  religion,  or  regulations  of  the 
policy  and  discipline  of  a  church, 
made  by  councils,  either  general, 
national,  or  provincial ;  such  are 
the  canons  of  the  council  of  Nice, 
of  Trent,  &c. 

CANONICAL  HOURS  are 
certain  stated  times  of  the  day  con- 
signed more  especially  by  the  Ro- 
mish church  to  the  offices  of  pray- 
er and  devotion ;  such  are  viatiJiSy 
lauds^  &c.  In  England,  the  ca- 
nonical hours  are  from  eight  to 
twelve  in  the  forenoon  ;  before  or 
after  which  marriage  cannot  be  le- 
gally performed  in  any  church. 

CANONICAL  LETTERS,in 
the  ancient  church,  were  testimo- 
nials of  the  orthodox  faith  which 
the  bishops  and  clergy  sent  each 
other  to  keep  up  the  catholic  com- 
munion, and  distinguish  orthodox 
christians  from  Ijei-etics. 

CANONICAL  LlFE,therule 
of  living  prescribed  by  the  ancient 
clergy  Vv'ho  lived  in  community. 
The  canonical  life  was  a  kind  of 
medium  between  the  monastic  and 
clerical  lives. 

CANONICAL  OBEDI- 


CAN 


116 


CAR 


ENCE,  is  that  submission  which, 
by  the  ecclesiastical  laws,  the  infe- 
rior clergy  are  to  pay  to  their  bi- 
shops, and  the  religious  to  their 
superiors. 

CANONIZATION,  a  cere- 
mony in  the  Romish  church,  by 
which  persons  deceased  are  ranked 
in  the  catalogue  of  the  saints.  It 
succeeds  beatification.  Before  a 
beatified  person  is  canonized,  the 
qualifications  of  the  candidate  are 
strictly  examined  into,  in  some 
consistories  held  for  that  purpose  ; 
after  which  one  of  the  consistorial 
advocates,  in  the  presence  of  the 
pope  and  cardinals,  makes  the 
panegyric  of  the  person  who  is  to 
be  proclaimed  a  saint,  and  gives 
a  particular  detail  of  his  life  and 
miracles  ;  Avhich  being  done,  the 
holy  father  decrees  his  canoniza- 
tion, and  appoints  the  day. 

On  the  day  of  canonization,  the 
pope  officiates  in  white,  and  their 
eminences  are  dressed  in  the  same 
colour.  St.  Peter's  church  is  hung 
with  rich  tapestry,  upon  which  the 
arms  of  the  pope,  and  of  the  prince 
or  state  requiring  the  canonization, 
areembroidei"ed  in  geld  and  silver. 
A  great  number  of  lights  blaze 
all  round  the  church  which  is 
cro\v'ded  with  pious  souls,  who 
wait  with  devout  impatience  till 
the  new  saint  has  made  his  public 
entry,  as  it  were,  into  paradise, 
that  they  may  offer  up  their  peti- 
tions to  him  without  danger  of  be- 
ing rejected. 

The  ioHo'.v-ing  maxim  with  re- 
gard to  canonization  is  now  ob- 
served, though  it  has  not  been  fol- 
lowed above  a  century,  viz.  not  to 
ijnter  into  the  inquiries  prior  to 


canonization  till  fifty  years,  at 
least,  after  the  death  of  the  person 
to  be  canonized.  By  the  ceremo- 
ny of  canonization  it  appears  that 
this  rite  of  the  modern  Romans 
has  something  in  it  verj'  like  the 
apotheosis  or  deification  of  the  an- 
cient Romans,  and  in  all  probabili- 
ty takes  its  rise  from  it ;  at  least, 
several  ceremonies  of  the  same 
nature  are  conspicuous  in  both. 

CAPUCHINS,  religious,  of  the 
order  of  St.  Francis.  They  are 
clothed  with  brown  or  grey ;  al- 
ways bare-footed ;  never  go  in  a 
coach,  nor  ever  shave  their  beards. 
CAPUTIATI,a  denomination 
which  appeared  in  the  twelfth 
century,  so  called  from  a  singular 
kind  of  cap  which  distinguished 
their  party.  They  wore  upon 
their  caps  a  leaden  image  of  the 
Virgin  Mary,  and  declared  pub- 
licly that  their  purpose  was  to 
level  all  distinctions,  to  abrogate 
magistracy,  and  to  remove  all  su- 
bordination among  mankind,  and 
to  restore  that  primitive  liberty, 
that  natural  equality,  which  were 
the  inestimable  privilege  of  the 
first  mortals. 

CARAITES,  a  Jewish  sect, 
which  adheres  closely  to  the  text 
I  and  letter  of  the  scriptures,  reject- 
j  ing  the  rabbinical  interpretations 
j  and  the  cabbala.  The  Talmud  ap- 
jpearing  in  the  beginning  of  the 
I  sixth  ceritury,  those  of  the  best 
i!  sense  among  the  Jews  were  dis- 
Ijgusted  at  the  ridiculous  fables 
;;  with  which  it  abounded.  But 
[about  the  year  750,  Anan,  a 
ij  Babylonish  Jevi',  declared  openly 
ji  for  the  written  woi'd  of  God  alone, 
si  exclusive  of  all  tradition ;  and  this 


CAR 


117 


CAR 


declaration  produced  a  schism. 
Those  who  maintained  the  Tal- 
mud being  almost  all  rabbins,  were 
called  Rabbinists  ;  and  the  others, 
who  rejected  traditions,  were  call- 
ed Caraites,  or  Scripturists,  from 
the  word  cara^  which  in  the  Ba- 
bylonish language  signifies  scrip- 
ture. 

CARDINAL,  one  of  the  chief 
governors  of  the  Romish  church, 
by  whom  the  pope  is  elected  out 
of  their  own  number,  which  con- 
tains six  bishops,  fifty  priests,  and 
fourteen  deacons :  these  constitute 
the  sacred  college,  and  are  chosen 
by  the  pope.  See  Pope. 

CARDINAL  VIRTUES :  jus- 
tice, prudence,  temperance,  and 
fortitude,  are  called  the  four  cardi- 
nal virtues,  as  being  the  basis  of 
all  the  rest.  See  Justice,  &c. 

CARE,  concern,  or  anxiety  of 
mind  arising  from  the  uncertainty 
of  something  future,  or  the  oppres- 
sion of  the  present  calamity.  Cau- 
tion, attention  to  a  particular  sub- 
ject; regard  and  support,  when  ful- 
lowed  with  the  particle  of.  Pru- 
dence signifies  wisdom,  applied  to 
practice ;  discretion  is  the  effect  of 
prudence,  and  means  a  knowledge 
to  govern  or  direct  one's  self;  by 
care  we  understand  heed  in  order 
to  preserv^ation :  cautioji  implies  a 
greater  degree  of  weariness. 

Care  is  laivfid  when  it  consists 
in  a  serious  thought  and  earnest 
endeavour  to  please  God  ;  to  em- 
brace his  Son,  obey  his  com- 
mands, submit  to  his  providence, 
to  promote  our  neighbours'  tem- 
poral or  spiritual  advantage,  and 
to  gain  the  goods  of  this  life 
so  far  as  necessary  for  our  health, 
family,  comfort,   and  usefulness. 


It  is  sinful  when  it  leads  us 
to  immoderate  concern  about 
earthly  things ;  to  be  discontented 
with  our  lot,  or  to  make  use  of 
unlawful  means  to  obtain  worldly 
good. 

CARE  OF  GOD,  is  his  atten- 
tion to  and  concern  for  the  promo- 
tion of  the  welfare  of  his  creatures, 
1st  Pet.  V,  7.  1.  That  God  does 
manifest  this  care  is  evident  from 
the  blessings  we  enjoy,  the  ordi- 
nances he  has  instituted,  the  pro- 
mises he  has  given,  and  the  pro- 
vision he  has  made,  Ps.  Ixxxiv, 

11.  Matt,  vii,  12 2.    This  care 

is  entirely  free  and  unmerited  on 
our  part,  Gen.  xxxii,  10.  Deut. 
vii,  6.  Rom.  iii,  23. — 3.  It  is 
every  way  extensive,  reaching  to 
all  his  creatures  and  to  all  cases, 
Ps.  cxlv. — 4.  It  is  superior  to  all 
human  care  and  attention.  He 
cares  for  us  when  others  cannot ; 
when  others  will  not  care  for  us  ; 
or  when  we  cannot  or  will  not 
care  for  ourselves,  Ps.  cxlii,  4.  5. 

Jer.  xlix,  11.  Ps.  xli,  3 5.  It  is 

not  only  great,  but  perpetual. 
Through  all  the  scenes  of  life,  in 
death,  and  for  ever,  Heb.  xiii,  5. 
John  xvii,  9.    See  Providence. 

CARMELITES,  one  of  the 
four  tribes  of  mendicants,  or  beg- 
ging friars  ;  so  named  from  Mount 
Carmel,  formerly  inhabited  by 
Elias,  Elisha,  and  the  children  of 
the  prophets ;  from  Avhom  this 
order  pretends  to  descend  in  unin- 
terrupted suctession.  Their  habit 
was  at  first  white  ;  but  pope  Ho- 
norius  IV,  commanded  them  to 
change  it  for  that  of  the  Minims. 
They  wear  no  linen  shirts,  but, 
instead  of  them,  linsey-woolsey. 

CARPOCRATIANS,abranch 


CAS 


118 


CAS 


of  the  ancient  Gnostics,  so  called 
froni  (yarpocrates,  who  in  the  se- 
cond century  revived  and  improv- 
ed upon  the  errors  of  Simon  Ma- 
gus, Menender,  Saturninus,  and 
other  Gnostics.   See  Gnostics. 

CARTHUSIANS,  a  rehgious 
order  founded  A.D.  1080,  by  one 
Brudo  ;  so  called  from  the  desert 
Chartreiix^  the  place  of  their  in- 
stitution. Their  rule  is  extreme- 
ly severe.  They  must  not  go  out 
of  their  cells,  except  to  church, 
without  leave  of  their  superior  ; 
nor  speak  to  any  person  without 
leave.  They  must  not  keep  any 
meat  or  drink  till  next  day  :  their 
beds  are  of  straw  covered  v/ith 
a  felt  J  their  clothing,  two  hair 
cloths,  two  cowls,  two  pair  of 
hose,  and  a  cloak  ;  all  coarse.  In 
the  refectory  they  must  keep  their 
eyes  on  the  dish,  their  hands  on 
the  table,  their  attention  to  the 
reader,  and  their  hearts  fixed  on 
God.  Women  must  not  come  into 
their  churches. 

CASUALTY,  an  event  that  is 
not  foreseen  or  intended.  See  Con- 
tingency. 

CASUIST,  on  that  studies  and 
settles  cases  of  conscience.  It  is 
said  that  Escobar  has  made  a  col- 
lection of  the  ojiinions  of  all  the 
casuists  before  him.  IM.  Le  Feore, 
preceptor  of  Louis  XIII,  called 
the  books  of  the  casuists  the  art 
of  quibbling  with  God ;  which 
does  not  seem  far  from  truth,  by 
reason  of  the  multitude  of  distinc- 
tions and  subtleties  they  abound 
with.  Mayer  has  published  a 
bibliotheca  of  casuists,  containing 
an  account  of  all  the  Avriters  on 
cases  of  conscience,  ranged  under 
three  heads ;  the  first  coniDreher.d- 


ing  the  Lutheran,  the  second  the 
Calvinist,  and  the  third  the  Ro- 
mish casuists. 

CASUISTRY,  the  doctrine  and 
science  of  conscience  and  its  cases, 
with  the  rules  and  principles  of 
reviving  the  same  j  drawn  partly 
from  natural  reason  or  equity, 
and  partly  from  the  authority  of 
scripture,  the  canon  laAv,  councils, 
fathers,  &c.  To  casuistry  belongs 
the  decision  of  all  difficulties  aris- 
ing about  what  a  man  may  lawfully 
do  or  not  do ;  what  is  sin  or  not  sin ; 
what  things  a  man  is  obliged  to  do 
in  order  to  discharge  his  duty,  and 
what  he  may  let  alone  without 
breach  of  it. 

Some  suppose  that  all  books 
of  casuistry  are  as  useless  as  they 
are  tiresome.  One  who  is  really 
anxious  to  do  his  duty  must  be 
very  weak,  it  is  said,  if  he  can 
imagine  that  he  has  much  occa- 
sion for  them ;  and  with  regard 
to  one  who  is  negligent  of  it,  the 
st^de  of  those  writings  is  not  such 
as  is  likely  to  awaken  him  to  more 
attention.  The  frivolous  accu- 
racy which  casuists  attempt  to  in- 
troduce into  subjects  which  do 
not  admit  of  it,  almost  necessarily 
betray  them  into  dangerous  er- 
rors ;  and  at  the  same  time  render 
their  works  dry  and  disagreeable, 
abounding  in  abstruse  and  meta- 
physical distinctions,  but  incapa- 
ble of  exciting  in  the  heart  any 
of  those  emotions  which  it  is  the 
principal  use  of  books  of  morality 
to  produce. 

On  the  other  hand,,  I  think  it 
may  be  observed,  that,  though 
these  remarks  may  apply  to  some^ 
they  cannot  apply  to  all  books  of 
casuistn-.      It  must   be    acknow- 


CAT 


119 


C  A  T 


iedged  that  nice  distinctions,  me- 
taphysical reasoning,  and  abstruse 
terms,  cannot  be  of  much  service 
to  the  generality,  because  there 
are  so  few  who  can  enter  into 
them ;  yet,  when  we  consider  how 
much  light  is  thrown  upon  a  sub- 
ject by  the  force  of  good  reason- 
ing, by  viewing  a  case  in  all  its 
bearings,  by  properly  considering 
all  the  objections  that  may  be 
made  to  it,  and  by  examining  it  in 
every  point  of  view  ;  if  we  con- 
sider also  how  little  some  men  are 
accustomed  to  think,  and  yet  at 
the  same  time  possess  that  ten- 
derness of  conscience  which  makes 
them  fearful  of  doing  wrong  ;  we 
must  conclude  that  such  works  as 
these,  when  properly  executed, 
may  certainly  be  of  considerable 
advantage.  The  reader  may  con- 
sult Arnes^s  Pozuer  and  Cases  of 
Conscience  ;  Bishop  Taylor'' s  Duc- 
tor  Diibitantium ;  Dr.  Saunder- 
son's  De  Obligatione  Conscie7itice  ; 
Pike  and,  Hayxvard'*s  Cases ;  and 
Saiirin''s  Christian  Casuistry^  in 
4th  vol.  of  his  Sermons,  p.  265, 
English  edition. 

CATECHISING,  instructing 
by  asking  questions  and  correcting 
the  answers.  Catechising  is  an 
excellent  mean  of  informing  the 
mind,  engaging  the  attention,  and 
affecting  the  heart,  and  is  an  im- 
portant duty  incumbent  on  all 
who  have  children  under  their 
care.  Children  should  not  be  suf- 
fered to  grow  up  without  instruc- 
tion, under  the  pretence  that  the 
choice  of  religion  ought  to  be 
perfectly  free,  and  not  biassed 
by  the  influence  and  authority  of 
parents,  or  the  power  of  educa- 
tion.    As    they   have  capacities, 


and  ar^?  more  capable  of  knov/- 
ledge  by  instruction  than  by  the 
exercise  of  their  own  reasoning 
powers,  they  should  certainly  be 
taught.  This  agrees  both  with 
the  voice  of  nature  and  the  dic- 
tates of  revelation,  Deut.  vi,  7. 
Prov.  xxii,  6.  Eph.  vi.  4.  The 
propriety  of  this  being  granted,  it 
may  next  be  observed,  that,  in 
order  to  facilitate  their  know- 
ledge, short  summaries  of  reli- 
gion extracted  from  the  Bible, 
in  the  v/ay  of  question, and  answer, 
may  be  of  considerable  use.  1. 
Hereby,  says  Dr.  Watts,  the  prin- 
ciples of  Christianity  are  reduced 
into  short  sentences,  and  easier  to 
be  understood  by  children.  2. 
Hereby  these  principles  are  not 
only  thrown  into  a  just  and  easy 
method,  but  every  part  is  natu- 
rally introduced  by  a  proper  ques- 
tion ;  and  the  rehearsal  of  the  an- 
sv/er  is  made  far  easier  to  a  child 
than  it  would  be  if  the  child  were 
required  to  repeat  the  -whole 
scheme  of  religion. — 3.  This  way 
of  teaching  bath  something  fami- 
liar and  delightful  in  it,  because 
it  looks  more  like  conversation  and 
dialogue. — 4.  The  very  curiosi- 
ty of  the  young  mind  is  awaken- 
ed by  the  question  to  know  what 
the  answer  will  be  ;  and  the  child 
will  take  pleasure  in  learning  the 
answer  by  heart,  to  improve  its 
Qwn  knowledge.  See  next  ar- 
ticle. 

CATECHISM,  a  form  of  in- 
struction .by  means  of  questionsand 
answers.  There  have  been  various 
catechisms  published  by  different 
authors,  but  many  of  them  have 
been  but  ill  suited  to  convey  in- 
struction to  juvenile  minds.     Ca- 


CAT 


120 


CAT 


techisms  for  children  should  be 
so  framed  as  not  to  puzzle  and 
confound,  but  to  let  the  beams 
of  Divine  light  into  their  minds  by 
degrees.  They  should  be  accom- 
modated as  far  as  possible  to  the 
weakness  of  their  understandings  ; 
for  mere  learning  sentences  by 
rote,  without  comprehending  the 
meaning,  will  be  but  of  little  use. 
In  this  way  they  will  know  no- 
thing but  words  :  it  will  prove  a 
laborious  task,  and  not  a  pleasure  ; 
confirm  them  in  a  bad  habit  of 
dealing  in  sounds  instead  of  ideas ; 
and,  after  all,  perhaps  create  in 
them  an  aversion  to  religion  it- 
self. Dr.  Watts  advises  that 
different  catechisms  should  be 
composed  for  different  ages  and 
capacities  ;  the  questions  and  an- 
swers should  be  short,  plain,  and 
easy;  scholastic  terms,  and  logical 
distinctions,  should  be  avoided ; 
the  most  practial  points  of  reli> 
gion  should  be  inserted;  and  one 
or  more  well  chosen  text  of  scrip- 
ture should  be  added  to  support 
almost  every  answer,  and  to  prove 
the  several  parts  of  it.  The  doc- 
tor has  admirably  exemplified  his 
own  rules  in  the  catechism  he  has 
composed  for  children  at  three  or 
four  years  old ;  that  for  children  at 
seven  or  eight;  his  assembly's  ca- 
techism, proper  for  youth  at  twelve 
or  fourteen ;  his  preservative  from 
the  sins  and  follies  of  childhood ; 
his  catechism  of  scripture  names; 
and  his  historical  catechism.  These 
are  superior  to  any  I  knovv^  and 
which  I  cannot  but  ardently  re- 
commend to  parents,  and  all  those 
who  have  the  care  and  instruction 
of  children. 

C  ATE  C HIST,  one    whose 


charge  is  to  instruct  by  questions, 
or  to  question  the  uninstructed 
concerning  religion. 

The    catechists   of  the    ancient 
churches  were  usually  ministers, 
and  distinct  fi-om  the  bishops  and 
presbyters ;  and  had  their  catechu- 
mena^  or   auditories,  apart.     But 
they  did  not  constitute  any  distinct 
order  of  the  clergy,  being  chosen 
out  of  any  order.       The    bishop 
himself  sometimes  performed  the 
office  ;    at  other  times,  presbyters, 
readers,  or  deacons.     It  was    his 
j  business  to  expose  the  folly  of  the 
'pagan    <^''perstition  ;    to     remove 
[  prejudicts,  and  answer  objections ; 
I  to  discourse  on  behalf  of  the  chris- 
tian doctrines  ;    and   to    give    in- 
struction to  those  who  had  not  suf- 
ficient knowledge  to  qualify  them 
for  baptism. 

CATECHUMENS,  the  low- 
est order  of  christians  in  the  pri- 
mitive church.  They  had  some  title 
to  the  common  name  of  christians, 
being  a  degree  above  pagans  and 
heretics,  though  not  consummated 
by  baptism.  Thev  were  admit- 
ted to  the  state  of  catechumens 
by  the  imposition  of  hands,  and 
the  sign  of  the  cross.  The  chil- 
dren of  believing  parents  were  ad- 
mitted catechumens  as  soon  as 
ever  they  were  capable  of  instruc- 
tion ;  but  at  what  age  those  of 
heathen  parents  might  be  admit- 
ted is  not  so  clear.  As  to.  the 
time  of  their  continuance  in  this 
state,  there  were  no  general  ruleo 
fixed  about  it;  but  the  practice 
varied  according  to  the  difference 
of  times  and  places,  and  the  i-eadi- 
ncss  and  proficiency  of  the  cate- 
chumens themselves.  There  were 
four  orders   or  degrees   of  cate- 


CAT 


121 


CAT 


chumens.  The  first  were  those 
instructed  privately  witho\it  the 
church,  and  kept  at  a  distance,  for 
some  time,  from  the  privilege  of! 
entering  the  church,  to  make 
them  the  more  eager  and  desirous 
of  it.  The  next  degree  were  the 
audienteSy  so  called  from  their  be- 
ing admitted  to  hear  sermons  and 
the  scriptures  read  in  the  church, 
but  were  not  allowed  to  partake 
of  the  prayers.  The  third  sort  of 
catechumens  were  the  genujlecten- 
teSy  so  called  because  they  receiv- 
ed imposition  of  hands  kneeling. 
The  fourth  order  was  the  compe- 
tentesetelecti;  denoting  the  imme- 
diate candidates  for  baptism,  or 
such  as  were  appointed  to  be  bap- 
tized the  next  approaching  festival; 
before  which,  strict  examination 
was  made  into  their  proficiency, 
under  the  several  stages  of  cate- 
chetical exercises. 

After  examination,  they  were 
exercised  for  twenty  days  toge- 
ther, and  were  obliged  to  fastmg 
and  confession.  Some  days  before 
baptism  they  went  veiled  ;  and  it 
was  customary  to  touch  their  ears, 
saying,  Ephatha^  i.  e.  Be  opened; 
as  also  to  anoint  their  eyes  with 
clay :  both  ceremonies  being  in 
imitation  of  our  Saviour's  practice, 
and  intended  to  signify  to  the  ca- 
techumens their  condition  both  be- 
fore and  after  their  admission  into 
the  christian  church. 

CATHARISTS,  a  sect  that 
spread  much  in  the  Latin  church  in 
the  twelfth  century.  Their  reli- 
gion resembled  thu  doctrine  of  the 
Manichsans  and  Gnostics  [see 
those  articles].  They  supposed  that 
matter  was  the  source  of  evil ,  that 
Christ  was  not  clothed  with  a  real 

Vol.  I.  K 


body  ;  that  baptism  and  the  Lord's 
supper  were  useless  institutions  ; 
with  a  variety  of  other  strange  no- 
tions. 

CATHEDRAL,  the  chief 
church  of  a  diocese  ;  a  church 
wherein  is  a  bishop's  see.  The 
word  comes  from  v.oS^oix,  "  chair:'* 
the  name  seems  to  have  taken  its 
rise  from  the  manner  of  sitting  in 
the  ancient  churches  or  assemblies 
of  private  christians.  In  these  the 
council,  i.  e.  the  elders  and  priests, 
were  called  Presbyterium  ;  at  their 
head  was  the  bishop,  who  held  the 
place  of  chairman,  Cathredalis  or 
Cathredaticus  ;  and  the  presbyters 
who  sat  on  either  side,  also  called 
by  the  ancient  fathers  Assessores 
Episcoporum.  The  episcopal  au- 
thority did  not  reside  in  the  bishop 
alone,  but  in  all  the  presbyterg, 
whereof  the  bishop  was  president. 
A  cathedral^  therefore,  originally 
was  different  from  what  it  is  now; 
the  christians,  till  the  time  of  Con- 
stantine,  having  no  liberty  to  build 
any  temple.  By  their  churches 
they  only  meant  assemblies  ;  and 
by  cathedrals,  nothing  more  than 
consistories. 

CATHOLIC,  denotes  anything 
that  is  universal  or  general.  The 
rise  of  heresies  induced  the  pri- 
mitive christian  church  to  assume 
to  itself  the  appellation  of  catholicy 
being  a  characteristic  to  distinguish 
itself  from  all  sects,  who,  though 
they  had  party  names,  sometimes 
sheltered  themselves  under  the 
name  of  christians.  The  Romish 
church  naw  distinguishes  itself  by 
catholic,  in  opposition  to  all  who 
have  separated  from  her  commu- 
nion, and  whom  she  considers  as 
heretics  and  schismatics  ;  and  her- 


CEL 


122 


CEM 


self  only  as  the  true  and  christian 
church.  In  the  strict  sense  of  the 
word,  there  is  no  catholic  church 
in  being ;  that  is,  no  universal 
christian  communion. 

CELESTINS,  a  religious  or- 
der in  the  thirteenth  century  ;  so 
called  from  their  founder,  Peter 
De  Meuron,  afterwards  raised  to 
the  pontificate  under  the  name  of 
Celestine  V.  The  Celestins  rose 
two  hours  after  midnight  to  say 
matins  ;  ate  no  flesh,  except  when 
sick  ;  and  often  fasted.  Their  ha- 
bit consisted  of  a  white  gown,  a 
capuche,  a  black  scapulary,  and 
shirts  of  serge. 

CELIBACY,  the  state  of  un- 
married persons.  Celibate,  or  celi- 
bacy, is  a  word  chiefly  used  in 
speaking  of  the  single  life  of  the 
popish  clergy,  or  the  obligation 
they  are  under  to  abstain  from 
marriage.  The  church  of  Rome 
imposes  an  universal  celibacy  on 
all  her  clergy,  from  the  pope  to 
the  lowest  deacon  and  subdeacon. 
The  advocates  for  this  usage  pre- 
tend that  a  vow  of  perpetual  celi- 
bacy was  required  in  the  ancient 
church  as  a  condition  of  ordination, 
even  from  the  earliest  apostolic 
ages.  But  the  contrary  is  evident, 
from  numerous  examples  of  bi- 
shops and  archbishops  who  lived 
in  a  state  of  matrimony,  without 
any  prejudice  to  their  ordination 
or  their  function.  Neither  our 
Lord  nor  his  apostles  laid  the 
least  restraint  upon  the  connubial 
union  :  on  the  contrary,  the  scrip- 
tures speak  of  it  as  honourable  in 
alii  without  the  least  restriction  as 
to  persons,  Heb.  xiii,  4.  Matt. 
xix,  10,  12.  1st  Cor.  vii,  2,  9.  St. 
Paul  even  assigns  forbidding  to 


marry  as  characteristic  of  the  apo- 
stacy  of  the  latter  times,  1st  Tim. 
iv,  3.  The  fathers,  without  mak- 
ing any  distinction  between  clergy 
and  laity,  asserted  the  lawfulness 
of  the  marriage  of  all  christians. 
Marriage  was  not  forbidden  to  bi- 
shops in  the  Eastern  church  till 
the  close  of  the  seventh  century. 
Celibacy  was  not  imposed  on  the 
Western  clergy  in  general  till  the 
end  of  the  eleventh  century, though 
attempts  had  been  made  long  be- 
fore. Superstitious  zeal  for  a  sanc- 
timonious appearance  in  the  cler- 
gy seems  to  have  promoted  it  at 
fii'st ;  and  crafty  policy  armed  with 
power,  no  doubt,  rivetted  this  clog 
on  the  sacerdotal  order  in  later 
periods  of  the  church.  Pope  Gre- 
gory VII  appears  in  this  business 
to  have  had  a  view  to  separate  the 
clergy 'as  much  as  possible  from 
all  other  interests,  and  to  bring 
them  into  a  total  dependence  up- 
on his  authority ;  to  the  end  that 
all  temporal  power  might  in  a  high 
degree  be  subjugated  to  the  papal 
jurisdiction.  Forbidding  to  mar- 
ry, therefore,  has  evidently  the 
mark  of  the  beast  upon  it.  See 
Marriage. 

CEMETERY,  a  place  set  apart 
fortheburialof  the  dead.  Ancient- 
ly, none  were  buried  in  churches 
or  churchyards :  it  was  even  un- 
lawful to  i7iter  in  cities,  and  the 
cemeteries  were  without  the  walls. 
Among  the  primitive  christians 
these  were  held  in  great  venera- 
tion. It  even  appears  from  Euse- 
bius  and  Tertullian,  that  in  the 
early  ages  they  assembled  for  di- 
vine worship  in  the  cemeteries. 
Valerian  seems  to  have  confiscat- 
ed the  cemeteries  and  other  places 


CER 


123 


CER 


of  divine  worship  ;  but  they  were 
restored  agaiti  by  Gallienus.  As 
the  martyrs  were  buried  in  these 
places,  the  christians  chose  them 
for  building  churches  on,  when 
Coustantine  established  their  reli- 
gion ;  and  hence  some  derive  the 
rule  which  still  obtains  in  the 
church  of  Rome,  never  to  conse- 
crate an  altar  without  putting  un- 
der it  the  relics  of  some  saint. 

CENSURE,the  act  of  judging 
and  blaming  others  for  their  faults. 
Faithfulness  in  reproving  another 
differs  from  censoriousness :  the  for- 
mer arises  from  love  to  truth,  and 
respect  for  the  person  ;  the  latter 
is  a  disposition  that  loves  to  find 
fault.  However  just  censure  may 
be  where  there  is  blame,  yet  a  cen- 
sorious spirit,  orrash  judging,  must 
be  avoided.  It  is  usurping  the  au- 
thority and  judgment  of  God.  It 
is  unjust,  uncharitable,  mischiev- 
ous, productive  of  unhappiness  to 
ourselves,  and  often  the  cause  of 
disorder  and  confusion  in  society. 
See  Charity. 

CERDONIANS,  a  sect,  in  the 
first  century,  who  espoused  most 
of  the  opinions  of  Simon  Magus 
and  the  Manichseans,  They  as- 
serted two  principles,  good  and 
bad.  The  first  they  called  the  Fa- 
ther of  Jesus  Christ ;  the  latter 
the  Creator  of  the  world.  They 
denied  the  incarnation  and  the  re- 
sun-ection,  and  rejected  the  books 
of  the  Old  Testament. 

CEREMONY,  an  assemblage 
of  several  actions,  fonns,  and  cir- 
cumstances, serving  to  render  a 
thing  magnificent  and  solemn.  Ap- 
plied to  religious  services,  it  signi- 
fies the  external  rites  and  manner 
wherein  the  ministers  of  religion 


perform  their  sacred  functions.  In 
1646,  M.  Ponce  published  a  his- 
tory of  ancient  ceremonies,  tracing 
the  rise,  growth,  and  introduction 
of  each  rite  into  the  church,  and 
its  gradual  advancement  to  super- 
stition. Many  of  them  were  bor- 
rowed from  Judaism,  but  more 
from  paganism.  Dr.  Middleton 
has  given  a  fine  discourse  on  the 
conformity  between  the  pagan  and 
popish  ceremonies,  which  he  ex- 
emplifies in  the  use  of  incense, 
holy  water,  lamps  and  candles  be- 
fore the  shrines  of  saints,  yotive 
gifts  round  the  shrines  of  the  de- 
ceased, &c.  In  fact,  the  altars, 
images,  crosses,  processions,  mira- 
cles, and  legends,  nay,  even  the 
very  hierarchy,  pontificate,  reli- 
gious orders,  &c.,  of  the  present 
Romans,  he  shews,  are  all  copied 
from  their  heathen  ancestors.  An 
ample  and  magnificent  representa- 
tion in  figures  of  the  religious  ce- 
remonies and  customs  of  all  na- 
tions in  the  world,  designed  by 
Picart,  is  added,  with  historical 
explanations,  and  many  curious 
dissertations. 

It  has  been  a  question,  whether 
we  ought  to  use  such  rites  and  ce- 
remonies which  are  merely  of  hu- 
man appointment.  On  one  side 
it  has  been  observed  that  we  ought 
not.  Christ  alone  is  King  in  his 
church :  he  hath  instituted  such 
ordinances  and  forms  of  worship 
as  he  hath  judged  fit  and  neces- 
sary ;  and  to  add  to  them  seems, 
at  least,  to  carry  in  it  an  imputa- 
tion on  his  wisdom  and  authority, 
and  hath  this  unanswerable  objec- 
tion to  it,  that  it  opens  the  door 
to  a  thousand  innovations  (as  the 
history  of  the  church  of  Rome 


C  ER 


124 


CER 


iiatli  sufficiently  she^vn),  which 
are  not  only  indifferent  in  them- 
selves, but  highly  absurd,  and  ex- 
tremely detrimental  to  religion. 
That  the  ceremonies  were  nume- 
rous under  the  Old  Testament  dis- 
pensation is  no  argument ;  for, 
say  thev,  1.  We  respect  Jewish 
ceremonies,  because  they  were 
appointed  of  God  ;  and  we  re- 
ject human  ceremonies,  because 
God  hath  not  appointed  them. — 
2.  The  Jewish  ceremonies  were 
established  by  the  universal  consent 
of  the  nation  ;  human  ceremonies 
are  not  so. — ^3.  The  former  were 
fit  and  proper  for  the  purposes  for 
which  they  were  appointed  ;  but 
the  latter  are  often  the  contrary. 
— 4'.  The  institutor  of  the  Jewish 
ceremonies  provided  for  the  ex- 
pence  of  it  J  but  no  provision  is 
made  by  God  to  support  human 
ceremonies,  or  what  he  has  not 
appointed. 

These  arguments  seem  very  pow- 
erful J  but  on  the  other  side  it  has 
been  observed,  that  the  desire  of 
reducing  religious  worship  to  the 
greatest  possible  simplicity,  how- 
ever rational  it  may  appear  in  it- 
self, and  abstractedly  considered, 
will  be  considerably  moderated  in 
such  as  bestow  a  moment's  atten- 
tion upon  the  imperfection  and  in- 
firmities of  human  nature  in  its 
present  state.  ]Mankind,  general- 
ly speaking,  have  too  little  eleva- 
tion of  mind  to  be  much  affected 
with  those  forms  and  methods  of 
worship  in  which  there  is  nothing 
striking  to  the  outward  senses. 
The  great  difficulty  here  lies  in 
determining  the  length  which  it  is 
prudent  to  go  in  the  accommoda- 
tion  of  reiigoius   ceremonies  to 


human  infirmity;  and  the  grand 
point  is,  to  fix  a  medium  in  which 
a  due  regard  may  be  shewn  to  the 
senses  and  imagination,  without 
violating  the  dictates  of  right  rea- 
son, or  tarnishing  the  purity  of 
true  religion.  It  has  been  said, 
that  the  Romish  church  has  gone 
too  far  in  its  condescension  to  the 
infirmities  of  mankind;  and  this 
is  what  the  ablest  defenders  of  its 
motley  worship  have  alleged  in  its 
behalf.  But  this  observation  is 
not  just;  the  church  of  Rome  has 
not  so  much  accommodated  itself 
to  hiunan  zvcakness^  as  it  has  abus- 
ed that  weakness^  by  taking  occa- 
sion from  it  to  establish  an  endless 
variety  of  ridiculous  ceremonies, 
destructive  of  true  religion,  and 
only  adapted  to  pi-omote  the  riches 
and  despotism  of  the  clergy,  and 
to  keep  the  multitude  still  hood- 
winked in  their  ignorance  and  su- 
perstition. How  far  a  just  anti- 
pathy to  the  church  puppet-shows 
of  the  Papists  has  unjustly  driven 
some  Protestant  churches  into  the 
opposite  extreme,  is  a  matter  that 
certamly  deserves  a  serious  consi- 
deration. See  Dr.  Stenneti's  Ser. 
on  Conformitij  to  the  World;  jRo- 
binson''s  Sermon  on  Ceremonies ; 
Booth's  Essay  on  the  Kingdom  of 
Christ;  Mosheim^s  Ecclesiastical 
History;  xvith  Mac  Laine's  Note, 
vol.  i,  p.  203,  quarto  ^edition. 

CERINTHIANS,  ancient  he- 
retics, who  denied  the  deity  of  Je- 
sus Christ ;  so  named  from  Ce- ' 
rinthus.  They  believed  that  he  was 
a  mere  man,  the  son  of  Joseph  and 
Mary ;  but  that  in  his  baptism  a 
celestial  virtue  descended  on  him 
in  the  form  of  a  dove;  by  means 
whereof  he  was  consecrated  by  the 


CHA    ' 


125 


CHA 


Holy  Spirit,  made  Christ,  and 
wrought  so  many  miracles  ;  that, 
as  he  received  it  from  heaven,  it 
quitted  him  after  his  passion,  and 
returned  to  the  place  whence  it 
came ;  so  that  Jesus,  whom  they 
called  2Lpure  7n«;2,  really  died,  and 
rose  again  ;  but  that  Christ,  who 
was  distinguished  from  Jesus,  did 
not  suffer  at  all.  It  was  partly  to 
refute  this  sfcct  that  St.  John  wrote 
his  gospel.  They  received  the  gos- 
pel of  St.  Matthew,  to  counte- 
nance their  doctrine  of  circumci- 
sion ;  but  they  omitted  the  genea- 
logy. They  discarded  the  epistles 
of  St.  Paul,  because  that  apostle 
held  circumcision  abolished. 

CHALDEE  PARAPHRASE,  in 
the  rabbinical  style,  is  called  Tar- 
gum.  There  are  three  Chaldee 
paraphrases  in  Walton's  Polyglot ; 
viz.  1.  of  Onkelos  5 — 2.  of  Jona- 
than, son  of  Uzziel  j — 3.  of  Jeru- 
salem. See  Bible,  sect.  19,  and 
Targum. 

CHALICE,  the  cup  used  to 
administer  the  wine  in  the  sacra- 
ment, and  by  the  Roman  catholics 
in  the  mass.  The  use  of  the  chalice, 
or  communicating  in  both  kinds, 
is  by  the  church  of  Rome  denied 
to  the  laity,  who  communicate  only 
in  one  kind,  the  clergy  alone  be- 
ing allowed  the  privilege  of  com- 
municating in  both  kinds  ;  in  di- 
rect opposition  to  our  Saviour's 
words — "  Drink  ye  all  of  it." 

CHANCE,  a  term  we  apply  to 
events  to  denote  that  they  happen 
without  any  necessary  or  fore- 
known cause.  When  we  say  a 
thing  happens  by  chance,  we  mean 
no  more  than  that  its  cause  is  un- 
known to  us,  and  not,  as  some 
vainly  imagine,  that  chance  itself 


can  be  the  cause  of  anything.  "The 
case  of  the  painter,"  says  Cham- 
bers, "  who,  unable  to  express  the 
foam  at  the  mouth  of  the  horse  he 
had  painted,  threw  his  sponge  in 
despair  at  the  piece,  and  by  chance 
did  that  which  he  could  not  do 
before  by  design,  is  an  eminent 
instance  of  what  is  called  chance. 
Yet  it  is  obvious  all  we  here  mean 
by  chance,  is,  that  the  painter 
was  not  aware  of  the  effect,  or 
that  he  did  not  throw  the  sponge 
with  such  a  view  :  not  but  that  he 
actually  did  every  thing  necessary 
to  produce  the  effect ;  insomuch 
that,  considering  the  direction 
wherein  he  threw  the  sponge,  to- 
gether with  its  form  and  specific 
gravity,  the  colours  wherewith  it 
was  smeared,  and  the  distance  of 
the  hand  from  the  piece,  it  was 
impossible,  on  the  present  system 
of  things,  that  the  effect  should 
not  follow." — The  word,  as  it  is 
often  used  by  the  unthinking,  is 
vague  and  indeterminate —  a  mere 
name  for  nothing. 

CHANCELLOR,  a  lay  officer 
under  a  bishop,  who  is  judge  of  his 
court.  In  the  first  ages  of  the 
church  the  bishops  had  those  of- 
ficers, who  were  called  church 
lawyers,  and  were  bred  up  in 
the  knowledge  of  the  civil  and 
canon  law  :  their  business  was  to 
assist  the  bishop  in  his  diocese.— 
We  read  of  no  chancellors  till 
Henry  the  Second's  time ;  but  that 
king  requiring  the  attendance  of 
the  bishops  in  his  councils,  it  was 
thought  necessary  to  substitute 
chancellors  in  their  room  for  the 
dispatch  of  business- 

CHANT-is  used  for  the  vocal 
music  of  churches.   In  church  his- 


CH  A 


126 


CHA 


torywe  meet  with  diverse  kinds  of 
these  ,•  as,  1.  Chant  Ambrosian, 
established  by  St.  Ambrose  j — 2. 
Chant  Gregorian,  introduced  by 
pope  Gregory  the  Great,  who  esta- 
blishedschools  of  chanters,  and  cor- 
rected the  church  music.  This,  at 
first,  was  called  the  Roman  song; 
afterwards  the  plain  song ;  as  the 
choir  and  people  sing  in  unison. 

CHAOS,  the  mass  of  matter 
supposed  to  be  in  confusion  before 
it  was  divided  by  the  Almighty  in- 
to its  proper  classes  and  elements. 
It  does  not  appear  who  first  assert- 
ed the  notion  of  a  chaos.  Moses, 
the  earliest  of  all  writers,  derives 
the  origin  of  this  world  from  a 
confusion  of  matter,  dark,  void, 
cleep,  without  form,  which  he 
calls  TOHU  BOHU;  which  is 
precisely  the  chaos  of  the  Greek 
and  barbarian  philosophers.  Mo- 
ses goes  no  farther  than  the  chaos, 
nor  tells  us  whence  it  took  its  ori- 
gin, or  whence  its  confused  state  ; 
and  where  MOses  stops,  there  pre- 
cisely do  all  the  rest. 

CHAPEL,  a  place  of  worship. 
There  are  various  kinds  of  chapels 
in  Britain.  1.  Domestic  chapels, 
built  by  noblemen  or  gentlemen 
for  private  worship  in  their  fami- 
lies.— 2.  Free  chapels,  such  as 
are  founded  by  kings  of  England. 
They  are  free  from  all  episcopal 
jurisdiction,  and  only  to  be  visited 
by  the  founder  and  his  successors, 
which  is  done  by  the  lord  chan- 
cellor :  yet  the  king  may  licence 
any  subject  to  build  and  endow  a 
chapel,  and  by  letters  patent  ex- 
empt it  from  the  visitation  of  the 
ordinary. — 3.  Chapels  in  univer- 
sities, belonging  to  particular  uni- 
versities.— i.  Chapels  of  ease,built 


for  the  ease  of  one  or  more  pa- 
rishioners that  dwell  too  far  from 
the  church,  and  are  served  by  in- 
ferior curates,  provided  for  at  the 
charge  of  the  rector,  or  of  such 
as  have  benefit  by  it,  as  the  com- 
position or  custom  is. — 5.  Paro- 
chial chapels,  which  differ  from 
parish  churches  only  in  name : 
they  are  generally  small,  and  th^ 
inhabitants  within  the  district  few. 
If  there  be  a  presentation  ad  ec- 
clesiam  instead  of  capellam,  and  an 
admission  and  institution  upon  it, 
it  is  no  longer  a  chapel,  but  a 
church  for  themselves  and  fami- 
lies.— 6.  Chapels  which  adjoin  to 
and  are  part  of  the  church  ;  such 
were  formerly  built  by  honoura- 
ble persons  as  burying  places. — 
7.  The  places  of  worship  belong- 
ing to  the  Calvinistic  and  Armi- 
nian  Methodiats  are  also  generally 
called  chapels,  though  they  are 
licensed  in  no  other  way  than 
the  meetings  of  the  Protestant  Dis- 
senters. 

CHAPLAIN,  a  person  who 
performs  divine  service  in  a  chapel, 
or  is  retained  in  the  service  of 
some  family  to  perform  divine 
service. 

As  to  the  origin  of  chaplains, 
some  say  the  shrines  of  relics 
were  anciently  covered  with  a 
kind  of  tent,  cape,  or  capella,  i.  e. 
little  cape ;  and  that  hence  the 
priests  who  had  the  care  of  them 
were  called  chaplains.  In  time, 
these  relics  were  reposited  in  a  lit- 
tle church,  either  contiguous  to  a 
larger,  or  separate  from  it;  and 
the  name  capella,  which  was  given 
to  the  cover,  was  also  given  to  the 
place  v/here  it  was  lodged ;  and 
hence  the  priest  who  superintend- 


CHA 


127 


CHA 


ed  it  came  to  be  called  capellanus, 
or  chaplain. 

According  to  a  statute  of  Henry 
VIII,  the  persons  vested  with  a 
power  of  retaining  chaplains,  to- 
gether with  the  number  each  is  al- 
lowed to  qualify,  are  as  follow : 
an  archbishop  eight ;  a  duke  or 
bishop  six;  marquis  or  earl  five  ; 
viscount  four;  baron,  knight  of 
the  garter,  or  lord  chancellor, 
three ;  a  dutchess,  marchioness, 
countess,  baroness,  the  treasurer, 
or  comptroller  of  the  king's  house, 
clerk  of  the  closet,  the  king's  se- 
cretary, dean  of  the  chapel,  almo- 
ner, and  master  of  the  rolls,  each 
of  them  two ;  chief  justice  of  the 
king's  bench,  and  ward  of  the 
cinque  ports,  each  one.  All  these 
chaplains  may  purchase  a  licence 
or  dispensation,  and  take  two  be- 
tiefices,  with  cure  of  souls.  A 
chaplain  must  be  retained  by  let- 
ters testimonial  under  hand  and 
seal,  for  it  is  not  sufficient  that  he 
serve  as  chaplain  in  the  family. 

In  England  there  are  forty- 
eight  chaplains  to  the  king,  who 
"wait  four  each  month,  preach  in 
the  chapel,  read  the  service  to  the 
family,  and  to  the  king  in  his  pri- 
vate oratory,  and  say  grace  in  the 
absence  of  the  clerk  of  the  closet. 
While  in  waiting,  they  have  a 
table  and  attendance,  but  no  sala- 
ry. In  Scotland,  the  king  has 
six  chaplains  with  a  salary  of  50/. 
each ;  three  of  them  having  in  ad- 
dition the  deanery  of  the  chapel 
royal  divided  between  them,  mak- 
ing up  above  100/.  to  each.  Their 
only  dut)'  at  present  is  to  say 
prayers  at  the  election  of  peers 
for  Scotland  to  sit  in  parlia- 
ment. 


CHAPLET,  a  certain  instru- 
ment of  piety  made  use  of  by  the 
papists.  It  is  a  string  of  beads, 
by  which  they  measure  or  count 
the  number  of  their  prayers. 

CHAPTER,  a  community  of- 
ecclesiastics  belonging  to  a  cathe- 
dral or  collegiate  church.  The 
chief  or  head  of  the  chapter  is  the 
dean ;  the  body  consists  of  canons 
or  prebendaries.  The  chapter 
has  now  no  longer  a  place  in  the 
administration  of  the  diocese  dur* 
ing  the  life  of  the  bishop ;  but  suc- 
ceeds to  the  whole  episcopal  juris- 
diction during  the  vacancy  of  the 
see. 

CHARGE :  1,  a  sermon  preach- 
ed by  the  bishop  to  his  clergy  ;— 
2,  Among  the  Dissenters,  it  is  a 
sermon  preached  to  a  minister  at 
his  ordination,  generally  by  some 
aged  or  respectable  preacher. 

CHARITY,  one  of  the  three 
grand  theological  graces,  consist- 
ing in  the  love  of  God  and  our 
neighbour,  or  the  habit  or  dispo- 
sition of  loving  God  with  all  our 
heart,  and  our  neighbour  as  our- 
selves. '■^Charity,"  says  an  able 
writer,  "  consists  not  in  specula* 
tive  ideas  of  general  benevolence 
floating  in  the  head,  and  leaving 
the  heart,  as  speculations  often  do, 
untouched  and  cold  ;  neither  is  it 
confined  to  that  indolent  good  na- 
ture which  makes  us  rest  satisfied 
with  being  free  from  inveterate 
malice,  or  ill  will  to  our  fellow 
creatures,  without  prompting  us 
to  be  of  service  to  any.  True  cha- 
rity is  an  active  principle.  It  is 
not  properly  a  single  virtue ;  but  a 
disposition  residing  in  the  heart  as 
a  fountain ;  whence  all  the-virtues 
of  benignity,  candour,  forbearance, 


CHA 


128 


CHA 


generosity,  compassion,  and  li- 
berality flow  as  so  many  native 
streams.  From  general  good-will 
to  all,  it  extends  its  influence, 
particularly  to  those  with  whom 
we  stand  in  nearest  connexion, 
and  who  are  directly  within  the 
sphere  of  our  good  offices.  From 
the  country  or  community  to 
which  we  belong,  it  descends  to 
the  smaller  associations  of  neigh- 
bourhood, relations,  and  friends  ; 
and  spreads  itself  over  the  whole 
circle  of  social  and  domestic  life. 
I  mean  not  that  it  imports  a  pro- 
miscuous undistinguishing  affec- 
tion which  gives  every  man  an 
equal  title  to  our  love.  Charity, 
if  we  should  endeavour  to  carry  it 
so  far,  would  be  rendered  an  im- 
practicable virtue,  and  would  re- 
solve itself  into  mere  words,  v/ith- 
out  affecting  the  heart.  True  cha- 
rity attempts  not  to  shut  our  eyes 
to  the  distinction  between  good 
and  bad  men  ;  nor  to  warm  our 
hearts  equally  to  those  who  be- 
friend and  those  who  injure  us. 
It  reserves  our  esteem  for  good 
•  men,  and  our  complacency  for  our 
friends.  Towards  our  enemies, 
it  inspires  forgiveness  and  huma- 
nity. It  breathes  universal  can- 
dour and  liberality  of  sentiment. 
It  forms  gentleness  of  temper,  and 
dictates  affability  of  manners.  It 
prompts  coiTesponding  sympathies 
with  them  who  rejoice  and  them 
who  weep.  It  teaches  us  to  slight 
and  despise  no  man.  Charity  is 
the  comforter  of  the  afflicted,  the 
protector  of  the  oppressed,  the  re- 
conciler of  differences,  the  inter- 
cessor for  offenders.  It  is  faith- 
fulness in  the  friend,  public  spirit 
Ir  the  magistrate,  equity  and  pa- 


tience in  the  judge,  moderation  in 
the  sovereign,  and  loyalty  in  the 
subject.  In  parents  it  is  care  and 
attention  ;  in  children  it  is  reve- 
rence and  submission.  In  a  word, 
it  is  the  soul  of  social  life.  It  is 
the  sun  that  enlivens  and  cheers 
the  abodes  of  men  ;  not  a  meteor 
which  occasionally  glares,  but  a 
luminary,  which  in  its  orderly  and 
regular  course  dispenses  a  benig- 
nant influence."  See  Barroiv'*s 
Works^  vol.  i,  ser.  27,  28  ;  Blanks 
Ser.y  vol.  iv,  ser.  2;  Scott's  Ser.^ 
ser.  14;  Tillotsori's  Ser.^  ser.  158; 
Paley's  Mor.  Phil.^  vol.  i,  p.  23  ; 
and  articles  Benevolence,  Love. 

CHARM,  a  kind  of  spell,  sup- 
posed by  the  ignorant  to  have  an 
irresistible  influence,  by  means  of 
the  concurrence  of  some  infernal 
power  both  on  the  minds,  lives, 
and  properties  of  those  whom  it 
has  for  its  object. 

"  Certain  vain  ceremonies," 
says  Dr.  Doddridge,  "  which  are 
commonly  called c/2a?-;77.9,  and  seem 
to  have  no  efficacy  at  all  for  pro- 
ducing the  effects  proposed  by 
them,  are  to  be  avoided  ;  seeing  if 
there  be  indeed  any  real  efficacy  in 
them,  it  is  generally  probable  they 
owe  it  to  some  bad  cause  ;  for  one 
can  hardly  imagine  that  God 
should  permit  good  angels  in  any 
extraordinary  manner  to  interpose, 
or  should  immediately  exert  his 
own  miraculous  power  on  trifling 
occasions,  and  upon  the  perfor- 
mance of  such  idle  tricks  as  are 
generally  made  the  condition  of 
receiving  such  benefits." 

CHASTITY,  purity  from  flesh- 
ly lust.  In  men  it  is  termed  conti- 
nence. See  Continence.  There 
is  a  chastity  of  speech,  behaviour. 


CHE 


129 


CHI 


and  imagination,  as  well  as  of  bo- 
dy. Grove  gives  us  the  folloAving 
i-ules  for  the  conservation  of  chas- 
tity,— 1.  To  keep  ourselves  fully 
employed  in  labours  either  of  the 
body  or  the  mind  :  idleness  is  fre- 
quently the  introduction  to  sen- 
suality.— 2.  To  guard  the  senses, 
and  avoid  every  thing  which  may 
be  an  incentive  to  lust.  Does  the 
free  use  of  some  meats  and  drinks 
make  the  body  ungovernable  ? 
Does  reading  certain  books  de- 
bauch the  imagination  and  in- 
flame the  passions  ?  Do  tempta- 
tions often  enter  by  the  sight  ? 
Have  public  plays,  dancings, 
effeminate  music,  idle  songs, 
loose  habits,  and  the  like,  the 
same  effect?  He  who  resolves 
upon  chastity  cannot  be  ignorant 
what  his  duty  is  in  all  these  and 
such  like  cases. — 3.  To  implore 
the  Divine  Spirit,  which  is  a  spirit 
of  purity  ;  and  by  the  utmost  re- 
gard to  his  presence  and  opera- 
tions to  endeavour  to  retain  him 
with  us.  Grove's  Moral  Philos.^ 
p.  2,  sec.  6. 

CHAZINZARIANS,  a  sect 
which  ai'ose  in  Armenia  in  the 
seventh  century.  They  are  so 
called  from  the  Armenian  word 
c/iazus^  which  signifies  a  cross,  be- 
cause they  were  charged  with 
adoring  the  cross. 

CHEATS  are  deceitful  practi- 
ces, in  defrauding,  or  endeavoui'- 
ing  to  defraud,  another  of  his 
known  right,  by  means  of  some 
artful  device  contrary  to  honesty. 
See  Honesty,  Justich. 

CHEERFULNESS,  a  dispo- 
sition of  mind  free  from  dejection. 
Opposed  to  gloominess.  If  we 
consider  cheerfulness^  savs  Addi- 

VOL.  I.  '  S 


son,  in  three  lights,  v.ith  regard  to 
ourselves,  to  those  we  converse 
with,  and  to  the  Great  Author  of 
our  being,  it  will  not  a  little  recom- 
mend itself  on  each  of  these  ac- 
counts. The  man  who  is  possessed 
of  this  excellent  frame  of  mind  is 
not  only  easy  in  his  thoughts,  but 
a  perfect  master  of  all  the  powers 
and  faculties  of  his  soul  j  his 
imagination  is  always  clear,  and 
his  judgment  undisturbed ;  his 
temper  is  ^v^en  and  unruffled, 
whether  in  action  or  in  solitude. 
He  comes  with  a  relish  to  all  those 
goods  which  Nature  has  provided 
for  him,  tastes  all  the  pleasures  of 
the  creation  which  are  poured 
about  him,  and  does  not  feel  the 
full  weight  of  those  evils  which 
may  befal  him.  See  Happiness, 
Joy. 

CHILDREN,  duties  of  to  pa- 
rents. Dr.  Doddridge  observes, 
"  1.  That  as  children  have  re- 
ceived important  favours  from 
their  parents,  gratitude,  and  there- 
fore virtue,  requires  that  they 
should  love  them. — 2.  Consider- 
ing the  superiority  of  age,  and 
the  probable  superiority  of  wis- 
dom, which  there  is  on  the  side 
of  parents,  and  also  how  much 
the  satisfaction  and  comfort  of 
a  parent  depend  on  the  respect 
shewn  him  by  his  children,  it  is 
fit  that  children  should  reverence 
their  parents. — 3.  It  is  fit  that, 
while  the  parents  are  living,  and 
the  use  of  their  understanding 
continued,  their  children  should 
not  ordinarily  undertake  any  mat- 
ter of  great  importance,  without 
advising  with  them,  or  without 
very  cogent  reasons  pursue  it  con- 
trary   to    their    consent. — 4.    As 


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130 


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young  people  need  some  guidance 
and  government  in  their  minority, 
and  as  there  is  some  peculiar  rea- 
son to  trust  the  prudence,  care, 
and  affection  of  a  parent,  pre- 
ferable to  any  other  person,  it  is 
reasonable  that  children,  especial- 
ly -while  in  their  minority,  should 
obey  their  parents ;  "without  which 
neither  the  order  of  families  nor 
the  happiness  of  the  rising  genera- 
tion could  be  secured  :  neverthe- 
less, still  supposing  that  the  com- 
mands of  the  parent  are  not  in- 
consistent with  the  will  of  God. — 
5.  Virtue  requires  that,  if  parents 
come  to  want,  children  should 
take  care  to  furnish  them  with  the 
laecessaries  of  life,  and,  so  far  as 
their  ability  will  permit,  with  the 
conveniences  of  it."  Doddridge's 
Lectures^  p.  241,  vol.  i. 

CHOREPISCOPI  {rr,s  x'^-f^s 
smcmoTroi^  bishops  of  the  country). 
In  the  ancient  church,  when  the 
diocesses  became  enlarged  by  the 
conversions  of  pagans  in  the  coun- 
trj',  and  villages  at  a  great  distance 
from  the  city  church,  the  bishops 
appointed  themselves  certain  as- 
sistants, whom  they  called  Chcre- 
piscop'i^  because  by  their  office  they 
were  bishops  of  the  countrj-. 
There  have  been  great  disputes 
'  among  the  learned  concerning  this 
order,  some  thinking  that  they 
were  mere  presbyters  ;  others  that 
there  were  two  sorts,  some  that 
had  received  episcopal  ordination, 
and  some  that  were  presbyters 
only  ;  others  think  that  they  were 
all  bishops. 

CHRISM,  oil  consecrated  by 
the  bishop  and  used  in  the  Romish 
and  Greek  churches  in  the  admin- 
Igtyation  of  baptism,  confirmation, 


ordination,  and  extreme  unction. 

CHRIST,  the  Lord  and  Saviour 
of  mankind.  He  is  called  Christ, 
or  Messiah,  because  he  is  anoint- 
ed, sent,  and  furnished  by  God  to 
execute  his  mediatorial  office.  See 
Jesus  Christ. 

CHRISTIAN, by  Dr.  Johnson, 
is  defined,  "  a  professor  of  the  re- 
li^on  of  Christ ;"  but  in  reality 
a  christian  is  more  than  a  profes- 
sor of  Christianity.  He  is  one  who 
imbibes  the  spirit,  participates  the 
grace,  and  is  obedient  to  the  will 
of  Christ. 

The  disciples  and  followers  of 
Christ  were  first  denominated 
christians  at  Antioch,  A.  D.  42, 
The  first  christians  distinguished 
themselves,  in  the  most  remark- 
able manner,  by  their  conduct  and 
their  virtues.  The  faithful,  whom 
the  preaching  of  St.  Peter  had 
converted,  hearkened  attentively 
to  the  exhortations  of  the  apostles, 
who  failed  not  carefully  to  instruct 
them  as  persons  who  were  enter- 
ing upon  an  entire  new  life. 
They  attended  the  temple  daih', 
doing  nothing  different  from  the 
other  Jews,  because  it  was  yet 
not  time  to  separate  from  them. 
But  they  made  a  still  greater  pro- 
gress in  virtue  ;  for  they  sold  all 
that  they  possessed,  and  distribut- 
ed their  goods  to  the  wants  of 
their  brethren.  The  primitive 
christians  were  not  only  remarka- 
]  able  for  the  consistency  of  their 
conduct,  but  were  also  I'ery  emir 
nently  distinguished  by  the  many 
miraculous  gifts  and  graces  be- 
stowed by  God  upon  them. 

The  Jews  were  the  first  and  the 
most  inveterate  enemies  the  chris- 
tians  had.      They  put  them   to 


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131 


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death  as  often  as  they  had  it  in 
their  power ;  and  when  they  re- 
volted against  the  Romans,  in  the 
time  of  the  emperor  Adrian,  Bar- 
chochebas,  who  was  at  the  head  of 
that  revolt,  employed  against  the 
christians  the  most  rigorous  pun- 
ishments to  compel  them  to  blas- 
pheme and  renounce  Jesus  Christ. 
And  we  find  that  even  in  the  third 
century  they  endeavoured  to  get 
into  their  hands  christian  wo- 
men, in  order  to  scourge  and  stone 
them  in  their  synagogues.  They 
cursed  the  christians  three  times 
a  day  in  their  synagogues ;  and 
their  rabbins  would  not  suffer 
them  to  converse  with  christians 
upon  any  occasion  ;  nor  were  they 
contented  to  hate  and  detest  them, 
but  they  dispatched  emissaries 
all  over  the  world  to  defame  the 
christians,  and  spread  all  sorts  of 
calumnies  against  them.  They 
accused  them,  among  other  things, 
of  worshipping  the  sun,  and  the 
head  of  an  ass ;  they  reproached 
them  with  idleness,  and  being  a 
useless  set  of  people.  They  charg- 
ed them  with  treason,  and  endea- 
vouring to  erect  a  new  monarchy 
against  that  of  the  Romans.  They 
affirmed,  that,  in  celebrating  their 
mysteries,  they  used  to  kill  a 
child,  and  eat  his  flesh.  They 
accused  them  of  the  most  shock- 
ing incests,  and  of  intemperance 
in  their  feasts  of  charity.  But 
the  lives  and  behaviour  of  the 
first  christians  were  sufficient  to 
refute  all  that  was  said  against 
them,  and  evidently  demonstrat- 
ed that  these  accusations  were 
mere  calumny,  and  the  effect  of 
inveterate  malice.  Pliny  the 
Younger,    who  was   governor  of 


Pontus  and  Bithynia  between  the 
years  103  and  105,  gives  a  very 
particular  account  of  the  chris- 
tians in  that  province,  in  a  letter 
which  he  wrote  to  the  emperor 
Trajan,  of  which  the  following  is 
an  extract:  "  I  take  the  liberty, 
Sir,  to  give  you  an  account  of 
every  difficulty  which  arises  to  me : 
I  have  never  been  present  at  the 
examination  of  the  christians ;  for 
which  reasons  I  know  not  what 
questions  have  been  put  to  them, 
nor  in  what  manner  they  have 
been  punished.  My  behaviour  to- 
wards those  who  have  been  ac- 
cused to  me  has  been  this :  I  have 
interrogated  them,  in  order  to 
know  whether  they  were  really 
christians.  When  they  have  con- 
fessed it,  I  have  repeated  the  same 
question  two  or  three  times,  threat- 
ening them  with  death  if  they 
did  not  renounce  this  religion. 
Those  who  have  persisted  in 
their  confession  have  been  by  my 
order  led  to  punishment.  I  have 
even  met  with  some  Roman  citi- 
zens guilty  of  this  phrensy,  whom, 
in  regard  to  their  quality,  I  have 
set  apart  from  the  rest,  in  order 
to  send  them  to  Rome.  These 
persons  declare  that  their  whole 
crime,  if  they  are  guilty,  con- 
sists in  this :  That  on  certain 
days  they  assemble  before  sun- 
rise, to  sing  alternately  the  praises 
of  Christ,  as  of  God;  and  to 
oblige  themselves,  by  the  perform- 
ance of  their  religious  rites,  not  to 
be  guilty  of  theft  or  adulteiy,  to 
observe  inviolably  their  word,  and 
to  be  true  to  their  trust.  This  de- 
position has  obliged  me  to  endea- 
vour to  inform  myself  still  farther 
of  this  matter,  by  putting  to  the 


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132 


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torture  two  of  their  women  ser- 
vants, whom  they  called  deacon- 
esses :  but  I  could  learn  nothing 
more  from  them  than  that  the 
superstition  of  these  people  is  as 
ridiculous  as  their  attachment  to  it 
is  astonishing." 

It  is  easy  to  discover  the  cause 
of  the  many  persecutions  to  whiqh 
the  christians  were  exposed  during 
the  three  first  centuries.  The  pu- 
rity of  the  christian  morality,  di- 
recdy  opposite  to  the  corruption 
of  the  pagans,  was  doubtless  one 
of  the  most  powerful  motives  of 
the  public  aversion.  To  this  may 
be  added  the  many  calumnies 
unjustly  spread  about  concerning 
them  by  their  enemies,  particu- 
larly the  Jews  ;  and  this  occasion- 
ed so  strong  a  prejudice  against 
them,  that  the  pagans  condemned 
them  without  enquiring  into  their 
doctrine,  or  permitting  them  to 
defend  themselves.  Besides,  their 
■worshipping  Jesus  Christ  as  God, 
was  contrary  to  one  of  the  most 
ancient  laws  of  the  Roman  em- 
pire, which  expressly  forbade  the 
acknowledging  of  any  God  which 
had  not  been  approved  of  by  the 
senate.  But,  notwithstanding  the 
violent  opposition  made  to  the 
establishment  of  the  christian  re- 
ligion, it  gained  ground  daily,  and 
very  soon  made  surprising  pro- 
gress in  the  Roman  empire.  In  the 
third  century  there  were  christians 
in  the  senate,  in  the  camp,  in  the 
palace  ;  in  short,  every  where  but 
in  the  temple  and  the  theatres, 
they  filled  the  towns,  the  country, 
the  islands.  Men  and  .women  of 
all  ages  and  conditions,  and  even 
those  of  the  first  dignities,  em- 
braced the  faith ;   insomuch  that 


the  pagans  complained  that  the 
revenues  of  their  temples  were 
ruined.  They  were  in  such  great 
numbers  in  the  empire,  that  (as 
Tertullian  expresses  it),  were  they 
to  have  retired  into  another  coun- 
tr}^,  they  would  have  left  the  Ro- 
mans only  a  frightful  solitude. 
For  persecutions  of  the  christians, 
see  article  Persecution. 

Christians  may  be  considered  as 
nominal  and  real.  There  are  vast 
numbers  who  are  called  christians, 
not  because  they  possess  any  love 
for  Christ,  but  because  they  hap- 
pen to  be  born  in  a  christian  coun- 
try, educated  by  christian  parents, 
and  sometimes  attend  christian 
worship.  There  are  also  many 
whose  minds  are  well  informed 
respecting  the  christian  system, 
who  prefer  it  to  every  other,  and 
who  make  an  open  profession  of 
it ;  and  yet,  after  all,  feel  but  little 
of  the  real  power  of  Christianity, 
A  real  christian  is  one  whose 
understanding  is  enlightened  by 
the  influences  of  divine  grace, 
who  is  convinced  of  the  depravity 
of  his  nature,  who  sees  his  own 
inability  to  help  himself,  who  is 
taught  to  behold  God  as  the  chief 
good,  the  Lord  Jesus  as  the  only 
way  to  obtain  felicity,  and  that 
the  Holy  Spirit  is  the  grand  agent 
in  applying  the  blessings  of  the 
gospel  to  his  soul.  His  heart  is 
renovated,  and  inclined  to  re- 
vere, honour,  worship,  trust  in, 
and  live  to  God.  His  affections 
are  elevated  above  the  world,  and 
centre  in  God  alone.  He  em- 
braces him  as  his  portion,  loves 
him  supremely,  and  is  zealous  in 
the  defence  and  support  of  his 
cause.     His  temper  u  regulated, 


CHR 


13: 


CHR 


his  powers  roused  to  vigorous  ac- 
tion, his  thoughts  spiritual,  and 
his  general  deportment  amiable 
and  uniform.  In  fine,  the  true 
christian  character  exceeds  all 
others  as  much  as  the  blaze  of  the 
meridian  sun  outshines  the  feeble 
light  of  the  glow-worm. 

CHRISTIANS  OFST.JOHN, 
a  sect  of  christians  very  numerous 
in  Balfara,  and  the  neighbouring 
towns :  they  formerly  inhabited 
along  the  river  Jordan,  where  St. 
John  baptized,  and  it  was  from 
thence  they  had  their  name. 
They  hold  an  anniversary  feast  of 
five  days,  during  which  they  all 
go  to  the  bishop,  who  baptizes 
them  with  the  baptism  of  St. 
John.  Their  baptism  is  also  per- 
formed in  rivers,  and  that  only  on 
Sundays  :  they  have  no  notion  of 
the  third  person  in  the  Trinity  ; 
nor  have  they  any  canonical  book, 
but  abundance  full  of  charms, 
&c.  Their  bishoprics  descend 
by  inheritance  as  our  estates  do, 
though  they  have  the  ceremony  of 
an  election. 

CHRISTIANS  OF  ST.THO- 
MAS,  a  sort  of  christians  in  a 
peninsula  of  India  on  this  side  the 
Gulf;  they  inhabit  chiefly  at 
Cranganor,  and  the  neighbouring 
country:  theseadmitof  no  images, 
and  receive  only  the  cross,  to 
which  they  pay  a  great  veneration. 
They  alHrm,  that  the  souls  of  the 
saints  do  not  see  God  till  after  the 
day  of  judgment;  they  acknow- 
ledge but  three  sacraments,  viz. 
baptism,  orders,  and  the  eu- 
charist ;  they  make  no  use  of  holy 
oils  in  the  administration  of  bap- 
tism, but,  after  the  ceremony, 
anoint  the  infant  with  an  unction 


composed  of  oil  and  walnuts,  with- 
out any  benediction.  In  the  eu- 
charist  they  consecrate  with  little 
cakes  made  of  oil  and  salt,  and 
instead  of  wine  make  use  of  water 
in  which  raisins  have  been  infused. 

In  the  Asiatic  Researches  of  the 
Society  instituted  in  Bengal,  may 
be  found  an  enlarged  account  of 
the  Christians  of  St.  Thomas, 
which  was  laid  before  that  society 
by  F.  Wrede,  esq.  See  also  Month- 
hj  Magazine  for  1804,  p.  60. 

CHRISTIANITY,  the  reli- 
gion of  christians. 

I.  Christianity,  foundation 
of.  Most,  if  not  all  christians, 
whatever  their  particular  tenets 
may  be,  acknowledge  the  scrip- 
tures of  the  Old  and  New  Testa- 
ments as  the  sole  foundation  of 
their  faith  and  practice.  But  as 
these  books,  or  at  least  particular 
passages  in  them,  have  from 
the  ambiguity  of  language  beea 
variously  interpreted  by  different 
commentators,  these  diversities 
have  given  birth  to  a  multiplicity 
of  different  sects.  These,  how- 
ever, or  at  least  the  greatest  num- 
ber of  them,  appeal  to  the  scrip- 
tures of  the  Old  and  New  Testa- 
ments as  the  ultimate  standard, 
the  only  infallible  rule  of  faith 
and  manners.  If  asked  by  what 
authority  these  books  claim  an 
absolute  right  to  determine  the 
consciences  and  understandings  of 
men  with  regard  to  what  they 
should  believe,  and  what  they 
should  do,  they  answer,  that  all 
scripture,  whether  for  doctrine, 
correction,  or  reproof,  was  given 
by  immediate  inspiration  from 
God.  If  again  interrogated  how 
those  books  which  they  call  scrip- 


CHR 


134 


CHR 


tare  are  authenticated,  they  re- 
ply, that  the  Old  and  New  Testa- 
ments are  proved  to  be  the  word 
of  God,  by  evidences  both  exter- 
nal and  internal.  See  §  2,  and 
article  Revelation. 

II.  Christianity,  evidences 
cf  the  truth  of.  The  external 
evidences  of  the  authenticity  and 
divine  authority  of  the  scriptures 
have  been  divided  into  direct  and 
collateral.  The  direct  evidences 
are  such  as  arise  from  the  nature, 
consistency,  and  probability  of 
the  facts  ;  and  from  the  simplicity, 
uniformity,  competency,  and  fide- 
lity of  the  testimonies  by  which 
they  are  supported.  The  collate- 
ral evidences  are  either  the  same 
occurrences  supported  by  heathen 
testimonies,  or  others  which  con- 
cur with  and  corroborate  the 
history  of  Christianity.  Its  inter- 
nal evidences  arise  either  from 
its  exact  conformity  with  the 
character  of  God,  from  its  apti- 
tude to  the  frame  and  circumstan- 
ces of  man,  or  from  those  super- 
natural convictions  and  assistances 
which  are  impressed  on  the  mind 
by  the  immediate  operation  of  the 
Divine  Spirit.  We  shall,  here 
chiefly  follow  Dr.  Doddridge,  and 
endeavour  to  give  some  of  the 
chief  evidences  which  have  been 
brought  forward,  and  which  every 
unprejudiced  mind  must  confess 
are  unanswerable. 

First.  Taking  the  matter  merely 
in  theory,  it  will  appear  highly 
probable  that  such  a  system  as  the 
gospel  should  be,  indeed,  a  divine 
revelation. 

The  case  of  mankind  is  natural- 
ly such  as  to  need  a  divine  revela- 
tion, 1st  John  V,  19.  Rom.  i.  Eph. 


iv. — 2.  There  is  from  the  light 
of  nature  considerable  encourage- 
ment to  hope  that  God  would 
favour  his  creatures  with  so  need- 
ful a  blessing  as  a  revelation  ap- 
pears.— 3.  We  may  easily  con- 
clude, that,  if  a  revelation  were 
given,  it  would  be  introduced 
and  transmitted  in  such  a  manner 
as  Christianity  is  said  to  have  been. 
— i.  That  the  main  doctrines  of 
the  gospel  are  of  such  a  nature  as 
we  might  in  general  suppose  those 
of  a  divine  revelation  would  be  ; 
rational,  practical,  and  sublime, 
Heb.  xi,  6.  Mark  xii,  29.  1st  Tim. 
ii,  5.  Matt.  V,  48.  Matt,  x,  29,  30. 
Philippians  iv,  8.  Romans  ii,  6, 
10. 

Secondly.  It  is,  in  fact,  cer- 
tain that  Christianity  is,  indeed,  a 
divine  revelation ;  for,  i.  The 
books  of  the  New  Testament^  noiv 
in  our  hands,  were  zvritten  by  the 
first  preachers  and  publishers  of 
Christianity.  In  proof  of  this,  ob- 
serve, 1.  That  it  is  certain  that 
Christianity  is  not  a  new  religion, 
but  that  it  was  maintained  by  great 
multitudes  quickly  after  the  time 
in  which  Jesus  is  said  to  have  ap- 
peared.— 2.  That  there  was  cer- 
tainly such  a  person  as  Jesus  of 
Nazareth,  who  was  crucified  at 
Jerusalem,  when  Pontius  Pilate 
was  governor  there. — 3.  The  first 
publishers  of  this  religion  wrote 
books  which  contained  an  account 
of  the  life  and  doctrine  of  Jesus, 
their  master,  and  which  went  by 
the  name  of  those  that  now  made 
up  our  New  Testament. — 4*  That 
the  books  of  the  New  Testament 
have  been  preserved,  in  the  main, 
uncorrupted  to  the  present  time,  in. 
the  original  language  in  which  thej' 


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135 


CHJR 


were  written. — 5.  Thart  the  transla- 
tion of  them  now  in  our  hands  may 
be  depended  upon  as,  in  all  things 
most  material,  agreeable  to  the 
original.  Now,  ii.  From  allcrw'mg 
the  New  Testament  to  be  genuine., 
according  to  the  above  proof.,  it 
xvill  certamly  follow  that  Chris- 
tianity is  a  divine  revelation  ;  for, 
in  the  first  place,  it  is  exceed- 
ingly evident  that  the  writers  of 
the  New  Testament  certainly  knew 
whether  the  facts  were  true  or 
false,  John  i,  3.  John  xix,  27,  35. 
Acts  xxvii,  7, 9. — 2.  That  the  cha- 
racter of  these  writers,  so  far  as  we 
can  judge  by  their  works,  seems 
to  render  them  worthy  of  regard, 
and  leaves  no  room  to  imagine 
they  intended  to  deceive  us.  The 
manner  in  which  they  tell  their 
story  is  most  happily  adapted  to 
gain  our  belief.  There  is  no  air 
of  declamation  and  harangue  ; 
nothing  that  looks  like  artifice 
and  design :  no  apologies,  no  en- 
comiums, no  characters,  no  reflec- 
tions, no  digressions ;  but  the 
facts  are  recounted  with  great 
simplicit}'^,  just  as  they  seem  to 
have  happened  ;  and  those  facts 
are  left  to  speak  for  themselves. 
— ^Their  integrity  likewise  evi- 
dently appears  in  the  freedom 
with  which  they  mention  those 
circumstances  which  might  have 
exposed  their  Master  and  them- 
selves to  the  greatest  contempt 
amongst  prejudiced  and  inconsi- 
derate men,  such  as  they  knew 
they  must  generally  expect  to 
meet  with,  John  i,  45,  46.  John 
vii,  52.  Luke  ii,  4,  7.  Mark  vi, 
3.  Matt,  viii,  20.  John  vii,  48. 
It  is  certain  that  there  are  in 
their  writings  the  most  genuine 
traces  not  only  of    a  plain  and 


honest,  but  a  most  pious  and  de- 
vout, a  most  benevolent  and  ge- 
nerous disposition,  as  every  one 
must  acknowledge  who  reads  dielr 
writings. — 3.  The  apostles  were 
under  no  temptation  to  forge  a 
story  of  this  kind,  or  to  publish 
it  to  the  world  knowing  it  to  be 
false. — 4.  Had  they  done  so,  hu- 
manly speaking,  they  must  quick- 
ly have  perished  in  it,  and  their 
foolish  cause  must  have  died  with 
them,  without  ever  gaining  any 
credit  in  the  world.  Reflect  more 
particularly  on  the  nature  of  those 
grand  facts,the  death,  resurrection, 
and  exaltation  of  Christ,  which 
formed  the  great  foundation  of  the 
christian  scheme,  as  first  exhibited 
by  the  apostles.  The  resurrection 
of  a  dead  man,  and  his  ascension 
into  and  abode  in  the  upper 
world,  were  such  strange  things, 
that  a  thousand  objections  would 
immediately  have  been  raised  a- 
gainst  them ;  and  some  extraordi- 
nary proof  would  have  been  justly 
requiredasabalancetothem.  Con- 
sider the  manner  in  which  the  apos- 
tles undertook  to  prove  the  truth 
of  their  testimony  to  these  facts; 
and  it  will  evidently  appear,  that, 
instead  of  confirmingtheir scheme, 
it  must  have  been  sufficient  utterly 
to  have  overthrown  it,  had  it  been 
itself  the  most  probable  imposture 
that  the  wit  of  man  could  ever 
have  contrived.  See  Acts  iii,  ix, 
xiv,  xix,  &c.  They  did  not  mere- 
ly assert  that  they  had  seen  mira- 
cles wrought  by  Jesus,  but  that  he 
had  endowed  them  with  a  variety 
of  miraculous  powers  ;  and  these 
they  undertook  to  display  not  in 
such  idle  anduseless  tricks  as  sleight 
of  hand  might  perform,  but  in  such 
solid  and  important  works  as  ap- 


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136 


CHR 


peared  worthy  of  divine  interpo- 
sition, and  entirely  superior  to 
human  power.  Nor  were  these 
things  undertaken  in  a  corner,  in 
a  circle  of  friends  or  dependants ; 
nor  were  they  said  to  be  wrought, 
as  might  be  suspected,  by  any 
confederates  in  the  fraud ;  but 
they  were  done  often  in  the  most 
public  manner.  Would  impostors 
have  made  such  pretensions  as 
these  ?  or,  if  they  had,  must  they 
not  immediately  have  been  expos- 
ed and  ruined?  Now,  if  the  New 
Testament  be  genuine,  then  it  is 
certain  that  the  apostles  pretend  to 
have  wrought  miracles  in  the 
very  presence  of  those  to  whom 
their  writings  were  addressed ;  nay, 
more,  they  profess  likewise  to 
have  conferred  those  miraculous 
gifts  in  some  considerable  degrees 
on  others,  even  on  the  very  per- 
sons to  whom  they  write,  and  they 
appeal  to  their  consciences  as  to 
the  truth  of  it.  And  could  there 
possibly  be  room  for  delusion  here  ? 
— 5.  It  is  likewise  certain  that  the 
apostles  did  gain  early  credit, 
and  succeeded  in  a  most  wonder- 
ful manner.  This  is  abundantly 
proved  by  the  vast  number  of 
churches  established  in  early  ages 
at  Rome,  Corinth,  Ephesus,  Col- 
losse,  &c.  he.  8s:c. — 6.  That, 
admitting  the  facts  which  they 
testified  concerning  Christ  to  be 
true,  then  it  was  reasonable  for 
their  contemporaries,  and  is  rea- 
sonable for  us,  to  receive  the 
gospel  which  they  have  transmit- 
ted to  us  as  a  divine  revelation. 
The  great  thing  they  asserted  was, 
that  Jesus  was  the  Christ,  and  that 
he  was  proved  to  be  so  by  pro- 
phecies    accomplished     in     him. 


and  by  miracles  wrought  by  him, 
and  by  others  in  his  name.  If 
we  attend  to  these,  we  shall  find 
them  to  be  no  contemptible  argu- 
ments ;  but  must  be  forced  to 
acknov/ledge,  that,  the  premises 
being  established,  the  conclusion 
most  easily  andnecessarily  follows; 
and  this  conclusion,  that  Jesus  is 
the  Christ,  taken  in  all  its  extent, 
is  an  abstract  of  the  gospel  reve- 
lation, and  therefore  is  sometimes 
put  for  the  whole  of  it.  Acts  viii, 
37.  Acts  xvll,  xviii.  See  articles 
Miracle  and  Ppophecy. — /. 
The  truth  of  the  gospel  has  also  re- 
ceived farther  and  very  conside- 
rable confirmation  from  what  has 
happened  in  the  world  since  it 
was  first  published.  And  here  we 
must  desire  every  one  to  consider 
what  God  has  been  doing  to  con- 
firm the  gospel  since  its  first  pub- 
lication, and  he  will  find  it  a  far- 
ther evidence  of  its  Divine  origi- 
nal. We  might  argue  at  large 
from  its  surprising  propagation  in 
the  world  ;  from  the  miraculous 
powers  with  which  not  only 
the  apostles,  but  succeeding 
preachers  of  the  gospel,  and  other 
converts,  were  endowed ;  from 
the  accomplishmient  of  prophe- 
cies recorded  in  the  New  Testa- 
ment ;  and  from  the  preserva- 
tion of  the  Jews  as  a  distinct 
people,  notM'lthstanding  the  vari- 
ous difficulties  and  persecutions 
through  which  they  have  passed. 
We  must  not,  however,  forget  to 
mention  the  confirmation  it  re- 
ceives from  the  methods  which  its 
enemies  have  taken  to  destroy  it ; 
and  these  have  generally  been 
either  persecution  or  falsehood, 
or   tuvilling  at   some  particulars 


CHR 


137 


CHR 


In  revelation,  without  entering 
into  the  grand  argument  on  which 
it  is  built,  and  fairly  debating  what 
is  offered  in  its  defence."  The 
cause  has  gained  considerably  by 
the  opposition  made  to  it:  the  more 
it  has  been  tried,  the  more  it  has 
been  approved ;  and  we  are  bold 
to  say  no  honest  man,  unfettered 
by  prejudice,  can  examine  this 
system  in  all  its  parts  without  be- 
ing convinced  that  its  origin  is 
divine. 

ill.  Christianity,  general 
doctrines  of.  "  It  must  be  obvious," 
says  an  ingenious  author,  "  to 
every  reflecting  mind,  that,  whe- 
ther we  attempt  to  form  the  idea 
of  any  religion  a  priori^  or  con- 
template those  which  have  alrea- 
dy been  exhibited,  certain  facts, 
principles,  or  data^  must  be  pre- 
established  ;  from  whence  will  re- 
sult a  particular  frame  of  mind  and 
course  of  action  suitable  to  the 
character  and  dignity  of  that  Be- 
ing by  whom  the  religion  is  en- 
joined, and  adapted  to  the  nature 
and  situation  of  those  agents  who 
are  commanded  to  observe  it. 
Hence  Christianity  may  be  divid- 
ed into  credenda  or  doctrines,  and 
agenda  or  precepts.  As  the  great 
foundation  of  his  religion,  there- 
fore, the  christian  believes  the 
existence  and  government  of  one 
eternal  and  infinite  Essence,  which 
for  ever  retains  in  itself  the  cause 
of  its  own  existence,  and  inherent- 
ly possesses  all  those  perfections 
which  are  compatible  with  its  na- 
ture :  such  are  its  almighty  power, 
omniscient  wisdom,  infinite  jus- 
tice, boundless  goodness,  and  uni- 
versal presence.  In  this  indivisi- 
ble essence  the  christian  recognises 

Vol.  I.  T 


three  distinct  subsistences,yet  dis- 
tinguished in  such  a  manner  as 
not  to  be  incompatible  either  with 
essential  unity,  or  simplicity  of 
being,  or  with  their  personal  dis- 
tinction ;  each  of  them  possesses 
the  same  nature  and  properties  to 
the  same  extent.  This  infinite 
Being  was  graciously  pleased  to 
create  an  universe  replete  with 
intelligences,  who  might  enjoy  his 
glory,  participate  his  happiness, 
and  imitate  his  perfections.  But 
as  these  beings  were  not  immuta- 
ble, but  left  to  the  freedom  of 
their  own  will,  degeneracy  took 
place,  and  that  in  a  rank  of  in- 
telligence superior  to  man.  But 
guilt  is  never  stationary.  Im- 
patient of  itself,  and  cursed  with 
its  own  feelings,  it  proceeds  from, 
bad  to  worse,  whilst  the  poig- 
nancy of  its  torments  increases 
with  the  number  of  its  perpetra- 
tions. Such  was  the  situation  of 
Satan  and  his  apostate  angels. 
They  attempted  to  transfer  their 
turpitude  and  misery  to  man,  and 
were,  alas,  but  too  successful ! 
Hence  the  heterogeneous  and  ir- 
reconcilable principles  which  ope- 
rate in  his  nature  ;  hence  that  in- 
explicable medley  of  wisdom  and 
folly,  of  rectitude  and  error,  of 
benevolence  and  malignity,  of 
sincerity  and  fraud,  exhibited 
through  his  whole  conduct ;  hence 
the  darkness  of  his  understand- 
ing, the  depravity  of  his  will, 
the  pollution  of  his  heart,  the  ir- 
regularity of  his  affections,  and 
the  absolute  subversion  of  his 
whole  internal  economy.  The 
seeds  of  perdition  soon  ripened  in- 
to overt  acts  of  guilt  and  horror. 
All  the  hostilities  of  nature  were 


CHR 


138 


CHR 


confronted,  and  the   whole    sub- 
lunan^  creation  became  a  theatre 
of  disorder  and  mischief.     Here 
the  christian  once   more   appeals 
to  fact  and  experience.     If  these 
things  are  so  ;  if  man  be  the  ves- 
sel of  guilt,  and  the  victim  of  mi- 
sery, he  demands  how  this  con- 
stitution of  things  can  be  account- 
ed for !   how  can  it  be  supposed 
that  a  being  so  wicked  and  unhap- 
py should  be  the  production  of  an 
infinitely  good  and  infinitely  per- 
fect Creator?  He  therefore  insists 
that  human  nature  must  have  been 
dis-arranged  and  contaminated  by 
some  violent  shock  ;   and  that,  of 
consequence,     without    the   light 
diffused  over  the  face  of  things 
by  Christianity,    all  nature   must 
remain   in   inscrutable   and  inex- 
plicable   myster\\        To    redress 
these     evils,    to    re-establish   the 
empire   of    rectitude   and   happi- 
ness, to  restore  the  nature  of  man 
io  its  primitive  dignit)-,.  to  satisfy 
the  remonstrances  of  infinite  Jus- 
tice,  to  purify  every  original  or 
contracted  stain,    to   expiate  the 
guilt  and   destroy   the    power   of 
vice,    the    eternal    Son   of    God, 
from  whom  Christianity  takes  its 
name,  and  to  whom  it  owes  its 
origin,   descended   from   the   bo- 
som of  his  Father,  assumed  the 
human  nature,  became  the  repre- 
sentative of  man;  endured  a  se- 
vere probation  in  that  character ; 
exhibited    a    pattern   of    perfect 
righteousness,    and  at  last  ratifi- 
ed his  doctrine,   and  fully  accom- 
plished all  the  ends  of  his  mission, 
by  a    cruel,   unmerited,    and   ig- 
nomitjious  death.     Before  he  left 
the  world,  he  delivered  the  doc- 
trines of  salvation,  and  the  rules 


of  human  conduct,  to  his  apos- 
tles, whom  he  empowered  to  in- 
struct the  world  in  all  that  con- 
cerned their  eternal  felicity,  and 
whom  he  invested  with  miracu- 
lous gifts  to  ascertain  the  reality 
of  what  they  taught.  To  them 
he  likewise  promised  another  com- 
fortei',  even  the  Divine  Spirit,  who 
should  remove  the  darkness,  con- 
sole the  woes,  and  purify  the 
stains  of  human  nature.  Having 
remained  for  a  part  of  three  days 
under  the  power  of  death,  he  rose 
again  from  the  grave ;  appeared 
to  his  disciples,  and  many  others ; 
conversed  with  them  for  some 
time,  then  re-ascended  to  heaven  ; 
from  whence  the  christian  ex- 
pects him,  according  to  his  pro- 
mise, to  appear  as  the  Sovereign 
Judge  of  the  living  and  the  dead, 
from  whose  awards  there  is  no 
appeal,  and  by  whose  sentence  the 
destiny  of  the  righteous  and  the 
wicked  shall  be  eternally  fixed. 
Soon  after  his  departure  to  the 
right  hand  of  his  Father  (where  in 
his  human  nature  he  sits  supreme 
of  all  created  beings,  and  invested 
with  the  absolute  administration 
of  heaven  and  earth),  the  Spirit 
of  grace  and  consolation  descend- 
ed on  his  apostles  with  visible  sig- 
natures of  Divine  power  and  pre- 
sence. Nor  were  his  salutary 
operations  confined  to  them,  bvit 
extended  to  all  who  did  not  by 
obstinate  guilt  repel  his  influences. 
These,  indeed,  were  less  conspicu- 
ous  than  at  the  glorious  asra  when 
they  were  visibly  exhibited  in  the 
persons  of  the  apostles.  But, 
though  his  energy  be  less  observa- 
ble, it  is  by  no  means  less  effec- 
tual to  all  the  purposes  of  grace 


CHR 


139 


CHR 


and  mercy.  The  christian  is  con- 
vinced that  there  is  and  shall  con- 
tinue to  be  a  society  upon  earth, 
who  worship  God  as  revealed  in 
Jesus  Christ,  who  believe  his  doc- 
trines, who  observe  his  precepts, 
and  who  shall  be  saved  by  the 
merits  of  his  death,  in  the  use  of 
these  external  means  of  salvation 
which  he  hath  appointed.  He 
also  believes  that  the  sacraments 
of  baptism  and  the  Lord's  supper, 
the  interpretation  and  application 
of  scripture,  the  habitual  exercise 
of  public  and  private  devotion,  are 
obviously  calculated  to  diffuse  and 
promote  the  interests  of  truth  and 
religion,  by  superinducing  the 
salutary  habits  of  faith,  love, 
and  repentance.  He  is  firmly 
persuaded,  that,  at  the  consumma- 
tion of  all  things,  when  the  pur- 
poses of  Providence  in  the  various 
revolutions  of  progressive  nature 
are  accomplished,  the  whole  hu- 
man race  shall  once  more  issue 
from  their  graves  ;  some  to  im- 
mortal felicity  in  the  actual  per- 
ception and  enjoyment  of  their 
Creator's  presence,  and  others  to 
everlasting  shame  and  misery." 

IV.  Christianity,  morality 
and  superiority  of.  It  has  been 
well  observed,  "that  the  two  grand 
principles  of  action,  according  to 
the  christian,  are  the  love  of  God, 
which  is  the  sovereign  passion  in 
every  gracious  mind;  and  the  love 
of  man,  which  regulates  our  ac- 
tions according  to  the  various  re- 
lations in  which  we  stand,  whe- 
ther to  communities  or  indivi- 
duals. This  sacred  connexion 
ought  never  to  be  totally  extin- 
guished by  any  temporary  injury. 
It  ought  to  subsist  in  some  degree 


even  amongst  enemies.  It  re- 
quires that  we  should  pardon  the 
offences  of  others,  as  we  expect 
pardon  for  our  own  ;  and  tliat  we 
should  no  farther  resist  evil  than 
is  necessary  for  the  preservation 
of  personal  rights  and  social  hap- 
piness. It  dictates  every  relative 
and  reciprocal  duty  between  pa- 
rents and  children,  masters  and 
servants,  governors  and  subjects, 
friends  and  friends,  men  and 
men :  nor  does  it  merely  enjoin 
the  observation  df  equity,  but 
likewise  inspires  the  most  sublime 
and  extensive  charity  ;  a  bound- 
less and  disinterested  effusion  oT 
tenderness  for  the  whole  species, 
which  feels  their  distress,  and 
operates  for  their  relief  and  im- 
provement." 

"  Christianity,"  it  has  also  been 
observed  (and  with  the  greatest 
propriety),  *'  is  superior  to  all 
other  religions.  The  disciple  of 
Jesus  not  only  contends  that  no 
system  of  religion  has  ever  yet 
been  exhibited  so  consistent  with, 
itself,  so  congruous  to  philosophy ! 
and  the  common  sense  of  man- 
kind, as  Christianity  :  he  likewise 
avers  that  it  is  infinitely  more  pro- 
ductive of  real  consolation  than  all 
other  religious  or  philosophical 
tenets  which  have  ever  entered  into 
the  soul,  or  been  applied  to  the 
heart  of  man.  For  what  is  death 
to  that  mind  v/hich  considers  eter- 
nity as  the  career  of  its  existence  ? 
What  are  the  frowns  of  men 
to  him  who  claims  an  eternal 
world  as  his  inheritance  ?  What , 
is  the  loss  of  friends  to  that  heart 
which  feels,  with  nlore  than  na- 
tural conviction,  that  it  shall 
quickly   rejoin   them   in  a  more 


CHR 


140 


CHR 


tender,  intimate,   and  permanent; 
intercourse,    than  any  of    which  i 
the   present    life    is   susceptible  ?  j 
"What  are  the  vicissitudes  of  ex-  j 
ternal   things   to    a    mind   which 
strongly  and  uniformly  anticipates  jl 
a  state  of  endless  and   immutable  j 
felicity  ?      What     are     mortifica-  j 
tions,    disappointments,    and    in-'| 
suits,  to  a  spirit  which  is  conscious  I 
of    being    the    original    offspring  j 
and  adopted  child  of  God;  ivhich 
knows  that  its  omnipotent  Father  _ 
will   in    proper    time     effectually 
assert  the   dignity  and  privileges 
of  its  nature  ?    In  a  word,  as  this 
earth  is  but  a  speck  in  the  crea- 
tion, as  time  is  not  an  instant  in 
proportion   to    eternit}',  such  are 
the    hopes  and  prospects  of   the 
christian  in  comparison  of  ^very 
sublunary  misfortune   or  difacul- 
ty.     It  is  therefore,  in  his  judg- 
ment, the  eternal  wonder  of  an- 
gels, and  indelible  opprobrium  of 
man,  that  a  religion  so  worthy  of  ■ 
God,  so  suitable  to  the  frame  and 
circumstances  of   our  nature,  so 
consonant   to    all  the   dictates   of 
reason,  so  friendly  to  the  dignity 
and   improvement    of    intelligent 
beings,  so  pregnant  with  genuine 
comfort  and  delight,  should  be  re- 
■jected  and  despised  by  an}'  of  the 
human  race." 

V.  Christianity,  propaga- 
tion and  succefis  of.  Despised  as 
Christianity  has  been  by  man}',  \tt 
it  has  had  an  extensive  progress 
through  the  world,  and  still  remains 
to  be  professed  by  great  num- 
bers of  mankind ;  though  it  is 
to  be  lamented  many  are  unac- 
quainted with  its  genuine  in- 
fluence. It  Was  earlv  and  ra- 
pidly    propagated     through     the 


whole  Roman  empire,  which  then 
contained  almost  the  whole  known 
world  ;   and  herein  we  cannot  but 
admire  both  the  wisdom  and  the 
power   of   God.     *'  Destitute    of 
all   human    advantages,"    says    a 
good  writer,   "  protected  by  no 
autiiorit}',  assisted  by  no  art ;  not 
recommended   by  the    reputation 
of    its    author,    not   enforced   by 
eloquence   in    its    advocates,    the 
word  of  God  grexv  mightily^  and 
prevailed.      Twelve     men,    poor, 
artless,  and  illiterate,  we  behold 
triumphing  over  the   fiercest  and 
most  determined  opposition  ;  over 
the  tyranny  of  the  magistrate,  and 
the  subtleties  of  the  philosopher; 
over  the  prejudices  of  the  Gentile 
and  the  bigotiy  of  the  Jew.  They 
established  a  religion  which  held 
forth  high  and  venerable  mysteries, 
such  as  the  pride  of  man  v/ould 
induce  him  to  suspect,  because  he 
could   not   perfectly  comprehend 
them  ;  Avhich  preached  doctrines 
pure  and  spiritual,  such   as   cor- 
rupt nature  y/as  prone  to  oppose, 
because  it  shrunk  from  the  seve- 
ritv  of  their  discipline  ;  which  re- 
quired  its  followers  to  renounce 
almost    every    opinion    they   had 
embraced   as    sacred,    and   every 
interest  they  had  pursued  as  im- 
portant ;    which     even     exposed 
them  to  even^  species  of  danger 
and   infam}' ;  to  persecution    un- 
merited   and    unpitied ;    to    the 
gloom   of   a  prison,    and   to    the 
pangs  of  death.     Hopeless  as  this 
prospect  might  appear  to  the  view 
of  short-sighted  man,  the  gospel 
yet  emerged  from  the  obscurity 
in  which  it  was  likely  to  be  over? 
v.helmed  bv  the  complicated  dis- 
tresses of  its  friends,  and  the  un- 


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141 


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relenting  cruelty  of  its  foes.  It  suc- 
ceeded in  a  peculiar  degree,  and 
in  a  peculiar  manner ;  it  derived 
that  success  from  truth,  and  obtain- 
ed it  under  circumstances  where 
falsehood  must  have  been  detected 
and  crashed." 

"  Although,"  says  the  elegant 
Porteus,  "  Christianity  has  not  al- 
ways been  so  well  understood,  or 
so  honestly  practised,  as  it  ought 
to  have  been;  although  its  spirit 
has  been    often  mistaken,  and  its 
precepts  misapplied,  yet,  under  all 
these  disadvantages,  it  has  gradu- 
ally produced   a  visible  change  in 
those'  points    which  most  materi- 
ally concern  the  peace  and  quiet  of 
the  world.      Its  beneficent    spirit 
has  spread  itself   through  all  the 
different    relations    and   modifica- 
tions of  life,  and  communicated  its 
kindly  influence  to   almost  every 
public  and  private  concern  of  man- 
kind.  It  has  insensibly  worked  it- 
self into  the  inmost  frame  and  con- 
stitution of  civil  states.  It  has  giv- 
en a  tinge  to    the  complexion  of 
their  governments,  to  the  temper 
and  administration  of  their  laws. 
It  has  restrained  the  spirit  of  the 
prince  and  the  madness  of  the  peo- 
ple.   It  has  softened  the  rigour  ot 
despotism,   and  tamed    the    inso- 
lence of  conquest.     It  has  in  some 
degree  taken  away  the  edge  of  the 
sword,  and  thrown  even  over  the 
horrors  of  war  a  veil    of  mercy. 
It  has  descended  into  families,  has 
diminished  the  pressure  of  private 
tyranny  ;  improved  ever)^  domes- 
tic endearment ;  givert  tenderness 
to  the    parent,    humanity    to    the 
master,  respect   to    superiors,    to 
inferiors  ease  ;    so  that   mankind 


are,  upon  the  whole,  even  in  a  tem- 
poral view,  under  infinite  obliga- 
tions to  the  mild  and  pacific  temper 
of  the  gospel,  and  have  reaped 
from  it  more  substantial  worldly 
benefits  than  from  any  other  insti- 
tution upon  earth.  As  one  proof 
of  this  (among  many  others),  con- 
sider only  the  shocking  carnage 
made  in  the  human  species  by  the 
exposure  of  infants,  the  gladiato- 
rial shows,  which  sometimes  cost 
Europe  twenty  or  thirty  thousand 
lives  in  a  month  ;  and  the  exceed- 
ingly cruel  usage  of  slaves,  alloAved 
and  practised  by  the  ancient  pagans. 
These  were  not  the  accidental  and 
temporary  excesses  of  a  sudden 
fury,  but  were  legal  znd  established., 
and  constant  methods  of  murder- 
ing and  tormenting  mankind.  Had 
Christianity  done  nothing  more  than 
brought  into  disuse  (as  itconfessed- 
lyhasdone)  thetwo  formerof  these 
human  customs  entirely,  and  the 
latter  to  a  very  great  degree,  it 
had  justly  merited  the  title  of  the 
benevolent  religion :  but  this  is  far 
frombeingall.  Throughoutthe  more 
enlightened  parts  of  Christendom 
there  prevails  a  gentleness  of  man- 
ners widely  different  from  the  fero- 
city of  the  most  civilized  nations 
of  antiquity  ;  and  that  liberality 
with  which  every  species  of  dis- 
tress is  relieved,  is  a  virtue  pecu- 
liar to  the  chijistian  name." 

But  we  may  ask  farther,  what 
success  has  it  had  on  the  mind  of 
man,  as  it  respects  his  eternal  wel- 
fare ?  How  many  thousands  have 
felt  its  power,  rejoiced  in  its  be- 
nign influence,  and  under  its  dic- 
tates been  constrained  to  devote 
themselves  to  the  glory  and  praise 


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142 


CHR 


of  God?  Burdened  with  guilt,  in- 
capable of  finding  relief  from  hu- 
inan  resources,  the  mind  has  here 
found  peace  unspeakable,  in  be- 
holding that  sacrifice  whicTi  alone 
could  atone  for  transgression.  Here 
the  bard  and  impenitent  heart  has 
been  softened,  the  impetuous  pas- 
sions restrained,  the  ferocious 
temper  subdued,  powerful  preju- 
dices conquered,  ignorance  dispell- 
ed, and  the  obstacles  to  real  happi- 
ness removed.  Here  the  christian, 
looking  round  on  the  glories  and 
))landishments  of  this  world,  has 
been  enabled  with  a  noble  contempt 
to  despise  all.  Here  Death  it- 
self, the  king  of  terrors,  has  lost 
its  sting ;  and  the  soul,  with  an 
holy  magnanimity,  has  borne  up  in 
the  agonies  of  a  dying  hour,  and 
sweetly  sung  itself  away  to  ever- 
lasting bliss. 

In  respect  to  its  future  spread, 
we  have  reason  to  believe  that  all 
nations  shall  feel  its  happy  effects. 
The  prophecies  are  pregnant  Avith 
niatter  as  to  this  belief.  It  seems 
that  not  only  a  nation  or  a  country, 
but  the  whole  habitable  globe,  shall 
become  the  kingdom  of  our  Lord 
and  of  his  Christ :  and  who  is 
there  that  has  ever  known  the  ex- 
cellency of  this  system  ;  who  is 
there  that  has  ever  experienced  its 
happy  efficacy ;  who  is  there  that 
has  ever  been  convinced  of  its  di- 
vine origin,  its  delightful  nature, 
and  peaceful  tendency,  but  what 
must  join  the  benevolent  and  royal 
poet  in  saying,  "  Let  the  whole 
earth  be  filled  v/ith  its  glory,  amen, 
and  amen  ?" 

See  article  Christianity  in 
Enc.  Brit. ;  Paley's  Evidenccc  of 


Christianity;  Lardner^s  and  Mac- 
knight's  Credibility  of  the  Gospel 
History  ;  Lord  Hailes  on  the  Influ- 
ence of  GihborCs  five  Causes  ;  Faw- 
cetfs  Evidences  of  Christianity; 
Doddridge's  ditto  ;  FelPs  and  Hun- 
ters Lectures  on  ditto;  Beattie^s 
Evidences  of  the  Christian  Religion; 
Soame  Jenyns's  Evidences  of  ditto; 
White's  Ser'mons. 

CHRISTMAS,  the  day  on  which 
the  nativity  of  our  blessed  Saviour 
is  celebrated. 

The  first  footsteps  we  find  of 
the  observation  of  this  day  are 
in  the  second  century,  abovit  the 
time  of  the  emperor  Commodus. 
The  decretal  epistles,  indeed,  carry 
it  up  a  little  higher,  and  say  that 
Telesphorus,  ^vho  lived  in  the 
reign  of  Antoninus  Pius,  ordered 
divine  service  to  be  celebrated, 
and  an  angelical  hymn  to  be  sung 
the  night  before  the  nativity  of 
our  Saviour.  That  it  was  kept 
before  the  time  of  Constantine 
we  have  a  melancholy  proof;  for 
whilst  the  persecution  raged  un- 
der Dioclesian,  who  then  kept  his 
court  at  Nicomedia,  that  tyrant, 
among  other  acts  of  cruelty,  find- 
ing multitudes  of  christians  assem- 
bled together  to  celebrate  Christ's 
nativity,  commanded  the  church 
doors  where  they  were  met  to  be 
shut,  and  fire  to  be  put  to  it,  which 
soon  reduced  them  and  the  church 
to  ashes.     See  Holyday. 

CHRONOLOGY,  the  science  of 

computing  and  adjusting  the  pe- 
riods of  time,  referring  each  event 
to  the  proper  year.  We  have  not 
room  here  to  present  the  reader 
with  a  system  of  chronology ;  but, 


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143 


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should  he  be  desirous  of  studying 
this  science,  he  may  consult  the 
systems  of  Cliiviar^  Calvishis^  Uah- 
er^  Simson^  Bedford^  Marsham^ 
Blair ^  and  Playfair. 

CHURCH.  1.  The  Greek 
word  E;«tA£(ri«  denotes  an  assembly 
met  about  business,  whether  lawful 
or  unlawful,  Acts  xix,  S2,  39. — 
2.  It  is  understood  of  the  collective 
body  of  christians,  or  all  those 
over  the  face  of  the  earth  who 
profess  to  believe  in  Christ,  and 
acknowledge  him  to  be  the  Sa- 
viour of  mankind  :  this  is  called 
the  visible  chwYch^  Eph.  iii,  21.  1st 

Tim.  iii,  15.  Eph.  iv,  11,  12 3. 

By  the  word  churchy  also,  we  are 
to  understand  the  whole  body  of 
God's  chosen  people,  in  every 
period  of  time :  this  is  the  i?ivisi- 
ble  church.  Those  on  earth  are 
also  called  the  militant,  and  those 
in  heaven  the  triumphant  church, 
Heb.  xii,  23.  Acts  xx,  28.  Eph.  i, 
22.  Matt,  xvi,  28 — 4.  By  a  par- 
ticidar  church  we  understand  an 
assembly  of  christians  united  to- 
gether, and  meeting  in  one  place 
for  the  solemn  worship  of  God. 
To  this  agree  the  definition  given 
by  the  compilers  of  the  thirty-nine 
articles  : — "  A  congregation  of 
faithful  men,  in  which  the  true 
word  of  God  is  preached,  and  the 
sacraments  duly  administered  ac- 
cording to  Christ's  ordinances,  in 
all  those  things  that  of  necessity 
are  requisite  to  the  same,"  Acts  ix, 
31.  Gal.  i,  2,  22.  1st  Cor.  xiv,  34. 
Acts  XX,  17.  Col.  iv.  15. — 5.  The 
word  is  now  used  also  to  denote 
any  particular  denomination  of 
christians  distinguished  by  parti- 
cular doctrines,  ceremonies,  S;c.  ; 


as   the    Romish    church,     Greek 
church,  English  church,  &c. 

Congregational  church  is  so 
called  from  their  maintaining  that 
each  congregation  of  christians 
which  meet  in  one  place  for  reli- 
gious worship  is  a  complete  chui  ch, 
and  has  sufficient  power  to  act 
and  perform  every  thing  relative 
to  religious  government  within 
itself,  and  is  in  no  respect  subject 
or  accountable  to  any  other  church. 
It  does  not  appear,  say  they,  that 
the  primitive  churches  were  na- 
tional ;  they  were  not  even  pro- 
vincial ;  for,  though  there  were 
many  believers  and  professing 
christians  in  Judea,  in  Galilee, 
in  Samaria,  in  Macedonia,  in 
Galatia,  and  other  provinces,  yet 
we  never  read  of  a  provincial 
church  in  any  of  those  places. 
The  particular  societies  of  chris- 
tians in  these  districts  are  men- 
tioned in  the  plural  number,  2d 
Cor.  viii,  1.  Gal.  i,  2.  Acts  ix, 
31.  According  to  them,  we  find 
no  mention  made  of  diocesan 
churches  in  the  New  Testament. 
In  the  days  of  the  apostles,  bi- 
shops were  so  far  from  presiding 
over  more  churches  than  one, 
that  sometimes  a  plurality  of  bi- 
shops presided  over  the  same 
church.  See  Phil,  i,  1.  Nor 
do  we  find  any  mention  made  of 
parochial  churches.  Some  of  the 
inhabitants  of  a  parish  may  be 
Infidels,  Mahometans,  or  Jews ; 
but  gospel  churches  consist  of  such 
as  make  an  open  profession  of 
their  faith  in  Christ,  and  sub- 
jection to  the  gospel,  Rom.  i,  7. 
1st  Cor.  xiv,  33.  It  seems  plain, 
then,  that  the  primitive  churches  of 


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144 


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Christ  were  properly  congrega- 
tional. The  first  church  of  Jeru- 
salem met  together  in  one  place 
at  the  same  time,  Acts  i,  14,  15. 
The  church  of  Antioch  did  the 
same,  Acts  xiv,  27.  The  church 
of  Corinth  the  same,  1st  Cor.  xiv, 
23.  The  same  did  the  church  at 
Troas,  Acts  xx,  7.  There  was  a 
church  at  Cenchrea,  a  port  of 
Corinth,  distinct  from  the  church 
in  that  city,  Rom.  xvi.  He  that 
was  a  member  of  one  church  was 
not  a  member  of  another.  The 
apostle  Paul,  writing  to  the  Co- 
lossian  society,  says — "  Epaphras, 
who  is  one  of  you,  saluteth  you," 
Col.  iv,  12. 

Such  a  church  is  a  body  distin- 
guished from  the  civil  societies 
of  the  world  by  the  spiritual  na- 
ture and  design  of  its  govern- 
ment ;  for,  though  Christ  v/ould 
have  order  kept  in  his  church, 
yet  without  any  coercive  force  ; 
a  thing  inconsistent  with  the  very 
nature  of  such  a  society,  whose 
end  is  instruction  ;  and  a  practice 
suitable  to  it,  which  can  never  in 
the  nature  of  things  be  accom- 
plished by  penal  laws  or  extenial 
coercion.  Is.  xxxiii,  22.  Matt. 
xxiii,  8,  10.  John  xviii,  36.  Ps.  ii, 
6. 2d  Cor.  X,  4, 5.  Zech.  iv,  6.,  8cc. 

1.  Church  members  are  those 
v»^ho  compose  or  belong  to  the 
church.  As  to  the  visible  churchy 
it  may  be  observed  that  real  saint- 
ship  is  not  the  distinguishing 
criterion  of  the  members  of  it. 
None,  indeed,  can  without  it  ho- 
nestly oifer  themselves  to  church 
fellowship  ;  but  they  , cannot  be 
refused  admission  for  the  mere 
want  of  it ;  for,  1.  God  alone  can 
judge  the  heart.      Deceivers  can 


counterfeit  saintship,  1st  Sam.  xvi, 
1,  7. — 2.  God  himself  admitted 
many  members  of  the  Jewish 
church  whose  hearts  were  unsanc- 
tified,  Deut.  xxix,  3,  4,  13.  John 
vi,  70. — 3.  John  the  Baptist  and 
gthe  apostles  required  no  more  than 
outTvard  appearances  of  faith  and 
repentance  in  order  to  baptism, 
Matt,  iii,  5,  7.  Acts  ii,  38.  Acts 
viii,  13,  23. — 4.  Many  that  were 
admitted  members  in  the  churches 
of  Judea,  Corinth,  Philippi,  Lao- 
dicea,  Sardis,  &c.,  were  unregene- 
rated,  Acts  v,  1,  10.  Acts  viii,  13, 
23.  1st  Cor.  V,  11.  Cor.  i,  15.  1st 
Cor.  Phil,  iii,  18,  19.  Rev.  iii,  5, 
15,  17. — 5.  Christ  compares  the 
gospel  church  to  a  floor  on  which 
corn  and  chaff  are  mingled  toge- 
ther ;  to  a  net  in  which  good  and 
bad  are  gathered,  Sec.  See  Matt, 
xiii. 

As  to  the  real  church.,  1.  The 
true  members  of  it  are  such  as  are 
{I  born  again. — 2.   They  come  out 
I  from  the  world,   1st  Cor.  vi,  17. 
j! — 3.  They  openly  profess  love  to 
Christ,   James  ii,   14,   26.   Mark 
viii,  34,  &c. — 4-.  They  walk  in  all 
the  ordinancesof  the  Lord  blame- 
less.    None  but  such  are  proper 
members  of  the  true  church ;  nor 
should   any  be   admitted   to    any 
particular   church   without   some 
appearance  of  these,  at  least. 

2.  Church  felloxvship  is  the  com- 
munion that  the  members  enjoy 
one  with  another. 

The  end  of  church  fellowship  is.^ 
1.  The  maintenance  and  exhibi- 
tion of  a  system  of  sound  princi- 
ples, 2d  Tim.  i,  13.  1st  Tim.  vi, 
3,  4.  1st  Cor.  viii,  5,  6.  Heb.  ii,  1. 
Eph.  iv,  21. — 2.  The  support  of 
the  ordinances  of  gospel  worship 


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in  their  purity  and  simplicity, 
©eut.  xii,  31,  32.  Rom.  xv,  6. — 
5.  iOhe  impartial  exercise  of 
church  government  and  disci- 
plincL,  Heh.  xii.  15.  Gal.  vi,  1. 
3d  Tim.  ii,  24,  26.  Tit.  iii.  10. 
-1-s.t  'Cor.  V.  James  iii,  17. — 4. 
The  promotion  of  holiness  in  all 
Tnannei-  of  conversation,  Phil,  i. 


Phil. 


15,  16.  2d  Pet.  iii, 


27.  fnn.  u. 
11.  IPhil.  iv,  6. 

T&e  more  particular  duties  are^ 
1^  Earnest  study  to  keep  peace 
and  unity,  Eph.  iv,  3.  Phil,  ii,  2, 
•3.  Phil,  iii,  15,  18 — 2,.  Bearing 
of  one  another's  burthens.  Gal. 
vi,  1,  2. — .3.  Earnest  endeavours 
to  prevent  each  other's  stumbling, 
a  St  Cor..x,  2,  3.  Heb.  x,  24,  27. 
itom.  xiv,  13.-^4.  Steadfast  con- 
tinuance in  the  faith  and  worship 
of  the  gospel,  Acts  ii,  42. — 5. 
Praying  for  and  sympathizing 
with  each  other,  1st  Sam.  xii,  23. 
Eph.  vi,  18. 

The  advantages  are^  1.  Pecu- 
liar incitements  to  holiness,  Eccl. 
iv,  11. — 2.  There  are  some  pro- 
mises applicable  to  none  but  those 
who  attend  the  ordinances  of  God, 
and  hold  communion  with  the 
saints,  Ps.  xcii,  13.  Is.  xxv.  6.  Ps. 
cxxxii,  13,  16.  Ps.  xxxvi,  8.  Jer. 
xxxi,  12. — 3.  Such  are  under  the 
watchful  eye  and  care  of  their 
Pastor,  Heb.  xiii,  7. — 4.  Subject 
to  the  friendly  reproof  or  kind  ad- 
vice of  the  saints,  1st  Cor.  xii,  25. 
— 5.  Their  zeal  and  love  are  ani- 
mated by  reciprocal  conversation, 
Mai.  iii,  16.  Prov.  xxvii,  17. — 
6.  They  may  restore  each  other 
if  they  fall,  Eccl.  iv,  10.  Gal.  vi,  1. 
— 7.  More  easily  promote  the 
cause,  and  sprear!  the  gospel  else- 
where. 

Vol.  I."  U 


3.  Church  ordinances  are^  1. 
Reading  of  the  scriptures,  Neh.  ix, 
3.  Acts  xvii,  11.  Neh.  viii,  3,  4. 
X.uke  iv,  16. — 2.  Preaching  and 
expounding,  1st  Tim.  iii,  2.  2d 
Tim.  ii,  24.  Eph.  iv,  8.  Rom.  x, 
15.  Heb.  V,  4. — 3.  Hearing,  Is. 
Iv,  1.  James  i,  21.    1st    Pet.  ii. 

2. 1st  Tim.  iv,  13 4.  Prayer,  Ps. 

V,  1,  2.  Ps.  xcv,  6.  Ps.  cxxi,  1.  Ps. 
xxviii,  2.  Acts  xii,  12.  Acts  i, 
14. — 5.  Singing  of  psalms,  Ps- 
xlvii,  1.  to  6.  Col.  iii,  16.  1st  Cor. 
xiv,  15.  Eph.  V,  19. — 6-  Thanks- 
giving, Ps.  1,  14,  Ps.  c.  James  v, 
13. — 7.  The  Lord's  supper,  1st 
Cor.  xi,  23,  &c.  Acts  xx,  7. 

Baptism  is  not  properly  a  churcK 
ordinance,  since  it  ought  to  be  ad- 
ministered before  a  person  be  ad- 
mitted into  the  church.    See  Bap- 

T,1SM. 

4.  Church  officers  are  those  ap- 
pointed by  Christ  for  preaching 
the  word,  and  the  superintendence 
of  church  affairs  :  such  are  bi- 
shops and  deacons,  to  which  some 
add,  elders.  See  those  arti- 
cles. 

5.  As  to  church  order  and  dis- 
cipliney  it  may  be  observed,  that 
every  christian  society  formed  on 
the  congregational  plan  is  strictly 
independent  of  all  other  religious 
societies.  No  other  church,  how- 
ever numerous  or  respectable  ;  no 
person  or  persons,  however  emi- 
nent for  authority,  abilities,  or  in- 
fluence, have  any  right  to  assume 
arbitrary  jurisdicUon  over  such  a 
society.  They  have  but  one  mas- 
ter, who  is  Christ.  See  Matt, 
xviii,  15,  19.  Even  the  officers 
which  Christ  has  appointed  in  his 

I  church  have  no  power  to  give  new 
i  laws  to  it ;  but  only,  in  conjunc- 
'  tjon 


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146 


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fion  with  the  other  members  of 
the  society,  to  execute  the  com- 
mands of  Christ.  They  have  no 
dominion  over  any  man's  faith, 
nor  any  compulsive  power  over  the 
consciences  of  any.  Every  par- 
ticular church  has  a  right  to 
judge  of  the  fitness  of  those  who 
offer  themselves  as  members,  Acts 
ix,  26.  If  they  are  found  to  be 
proper  persons,  they  must  then 
be  admitted  ;  and  this  should  al- 
ways be  followed  with  prayer, 
and  with  a  solemn  exhortation 
to  the  persons  received.  If  any 
member  walk  disorderly,  and  con- 
tinue to  do  so,  the  church  is  em- 
powered to  exclude  him,  1st  Cor. 
V,  7.  2d  Thess.  iii,  6.  Rom.  xvi, 
17,  which  should  be  done  with 
the  greatest  tenderness ;  but  if  evi- 
dent signs  of  repentance  should 
be  discovered,  such  must  be  re- 
ceived again.  Gal.  vi,  1.  This  and 
other  church  business  is  generally 
done  on  some  day  preceding  the 
sabbath  on  which  the  ordinance  is 
administered. 

See  art.  Excommunication  ; 
Dr.  Ozven  on  the  Nature  of  a  Gos- 
pel Church  and  its  Government  ; 
Watts's  Rational  Foundation  of  a 
Christian  Church  ;  Turner'^s  Com- 
pendium of  Soc,  ReL;  Faxocetfs 
Constitution  and  Order  of  a  Gospel 
Church  ;  Watts's  Works ^  ser.  S2,^ 
vol.  i. 

CHURCH  OF  ENGLAND, 
is  the  church  established  by  law  in 
this  kingdom. 

When  and  by  whom  Christianity 
Was  first  introduced  into  Britain 
cannot  perhaps  be  exactly  ascer- 
tained. Eusebius,  indeecl,  positive- 
ly declares  that  it  was  by  the  apos- 
tles and  their  disciples.  It  is  al- 
so said  that  numbers  of  persons 


professed  the  christian  faith  here 
about  the  year  1 50 ;  and  accord- 
ing to  Usher,  there  was  in  the 
year  182  a  school  of  learning, 
to  provide  the  British  churches 
with  proper  teachers.  Popery, 
however,  was  established  in  Eng- 
land by  Austin  the  monk;  and 
the  errors  of  it  we  find  every  where 
prevalent,  until  Wickliffe  was 
raised  up  by  Divine  Providence 
to  refute  them.  The  church  of 
England  remained  in  subjection  to 
the  pope  until  the  time  of  Henry 
VIII.  Henry,  indeed,  in  early 
life,  and  during  the  former  part  of 
his  reign,  was  a  bigotted  papist : 
he  burnt  the  famous  Tyndal  (who 
made  one  of  the  first  and  best 
translations  of  the  New-Testa- 
ment); and  wrote  in  defence  of 
the  seven  sacraments  against  Lu- 
ther, for  which  the  pope  gave  him 
the  title  of  "  The  Defender  of  the 
Faith."  But,  falling  out  with  the 
pope  about  his  marriage,  he  took 
the  government  of  ecclesiastical 
affairs  into  his  own  hand ;  and, 
having  reformed  many  abuses,  en- 
titled himself  supreme  head  of  the 
church.     See  Reformation. 

The  doctrines  of  the  church  of 
England,  which  are  contained  in 
the  thirty -nine  articles,  are  cer- 
tainly Calvinistical,  though  this 
has  been  denied  by  some  modern 
writers,  especially  by  Dr.  Kipling, 
in  a  tract  entitled  "  The  Articles 
of  the  Church  of  England  proved 
not  to  be  Calvinistic."  These  ar- 
ticles were  founded,  for  the  most 
part,  upon  a  body  of  articles  com- 
piled and  published  in  the  reign 
of  Edward  VI.  They  were  first 
passed  in  the  convocation,  and 
confirmed  by  royal  authority  in 
1562.     The^'  vrere  afterwards  ra- 


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147 


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tified  anew  in  the  year  1571,  and 
again  by  Charles  I.  The  law  re- 
quires a  subscription  to  these  ar- 
ticles of  all  persons  Avho  are  ad- 
mitted into  holy  orders.  In  the 
course  of  the  last  century  disputes 
arose  among  the  clergy  respecting 
the  propriety  of  subscribing  to 
any  human  formulary  of  religious 
sentiments.  An  application  for 
its  removal  was  made  to  parlia- 
ment, in  1772,  by  the  petitioning 
clergy ;  and  received  the  most 
public  discussion  in  the  house  of 
commons,  but  rejected  in  the 
house  of  lords. 

The  government  of  the  church 
of  England  is  episcopal.  The 
king  is  the  supreme  head.  There 
are  two  archbishops,  and  twenty- 
four  bishops.  The  benefices  of 
the  bishops  were  converted  by 
William  the  Conqueror  into  tem- 
poral baronies  ;  so  that  every  pre- 
late has  a  seat  and  a  vote  in  the 
house  of  peers.  Dr.  Hoadley, 
however  in  a  sermon  preached 
from  this  text — "  My  kingdom  is 
not  of  this  world,"  insisted  that 
the  clergy  had  no  pretensions  to 
temporal  jurisdictions ;  which  gave 
rise  to  various  publications,  term- 
ed, by  way  of  eminence^the  Ban- 
gorian  Controversy,  because  Hoad- 
ley was  then  bishop  of  Bangor. 
Dr.  Wake,  archbishop  of  Canter- 
bury, formed  a  project  of  peace 
and  union  between  the  English 
and  Gallican  churches,  founded 
upon  this  condition,  that  each  of 
the  two  communities  should  retain 
the  greatest  part  of  their  respective 
and  peculiar  doctrines ;  but  this 
project  came  to  nothing.  In  the 
cl^urch     of    England    there    are 


deans,  archdeacons,  rectors,  vi- 
cars, &c. ;  for  an  account  of 
which,  see  the  respective  articles. 

The  church  of  England  has  a 
public  form  read,  called  a  Liturgy. 
It  was  composed  in  1 547,  and  has 
undergone  several  alterations,  the 
last  of  which  was  in  1661.  Since 
that  time,  several  attempts  have 
been  made  to  amend  the  liturgy, 
articles,  and  some  other  things 
relating  to  ,  the  internal  govern- 
ment, but  without  effect.  There 
are  many  excellencies  in  the  litur- 
gy; and,  in  the  opinion  of  the 
most  impartial  Grotius  (who  was 
no  member  of  this  church),  "  it 
comes  so  near  the  primitive  pat- 
tern, that  none  of  the  reformed 
churches  can  compare  with  it.'* 
See  LiTURGV. 

The  greatest  part  of  the  inha- 
bitants of  England  are  professedly 
members  of  this  church  ;  but,  per- 
haps, very  few  either  of  her  mi- 
nisters or  members  strictly  adhere 
to  the  articles  in  their  true  sense. 
Those  who  are  called  methodistic 
or  evangelical  preachers  in  the 
establishment  are  allowed  to  come 
the  nearest. 

See  Mr.  Overtones  True  Church- 
men ;  Bishop  jexveVs  Apology,  for 
the  Church  of  England ;  Tu^er^s 
ditto;  Hooker's  Ecclesiastical  Po' 
lity  ;  Pearson  on  the  Creed ;  Burnet 
on  the  thirty-nine  Articles  ;  Bishop 
Prettyman^s  Elements  of  Theology; 
and  31rs.  H.  Moore's  Hints  on 
forming  the  Character  of  a  young 
Princess^  vol.  ii,  ch.  Ott.  On  the 
subject  of  the  first  introduction  of 
Christianity  into  Britain,  see  the 
1st  vol.  of  Henry^s  History  of 
Great  Britain, 


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im^ 


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CHURCH  GALLIC  AN,  de- 
notes the  ci-devant  church  of 
France  under  the  government  of 
its  respective  bishops  and  pastors. 
This  church  always  enjoyed  cer- 
tain franchises  and  immunities, 
not  as  grants  from  popes,  but  as 
derived  to  her  from  her  first  origi- 
nal, and  which  she  took  care  ne- 
ver to  relinquish.  These  liberties 
depended  upon  two  maxims  ;  the 
first,  that  the  pope  had  no  right  to 
order  any  thing  in  which  the 
temporalities  and  civil  rights  of 
the  kingdom  were  concerned  j  the 
second,  that,  notwithstanding  the 
pope's  supremacy  v/as  admitted 
in  cases  purely  spiritual,  yet  in 
France  his  power  was  limited  by 
the  decrees  of  ancient  councils  re- 
ceived in  that  realm. 

In  the  established  church  the 
Jansenists  were  very  numerous. 
The  bishoprics  and  prebends  were 
entirely  in  the  gift  of  the  king; 
and  no  other  catholic  state,  except 
Italv,  had  so  numerous  a  clergy 
as  France.  There  were  in  this 
kingdom^ighteen  archbishops,  one 
hundred  and  eleven  bishops,  one 
hundred  and  sixty-six  thousand 
clergymen,  and  three  thousand 
four  hundred  convents,  contain- 
ing two  thousand  persons  devoted 
to  a  monastic  life. 

Since  the  repeal  of  the  edict  of 
Nantz,  the  Protestants  have  suf- 
fered much  from  persecution.  A 
solemn  law,  Avhich  did  much 
honour  to  Lewis  XVI,  late  king 
of  France,  gave  to  his  non-Ro- 
man Catholic  subjects,  as  they 
were  called,  all  the  civil  advan- 
tages and  privileges  of  their  Ro- 
man Catholic  brethren. 

The  above  .statement  v/as  made 


previously  tO;the  French-  revolu- 
tion':  great  alterations  have  taken 
place  since  that  period.  And;  it 
maybe  interesting  to  those  who 
have  not  the  means  of  fuller  in- 
formation, to  give  a  sketch  of  the 
causes  which  gave  rise  to  those 
important  events. 

It  has  been  asserted,  that  about 
the  middle  of  the  last  century  a 
conspiracy  was  formed  to  over- 
throw christianit}',  without  distinc- 
tion of  worship,  whether  Protest- 
ant or  Catholic.  Voltaire;  De 
Alembert;  Frederic  II,  king  of 
Prussia  ;  and  Diderot,  were  at  the 
head  of  this  conspiracy.  Nu- 
merous other  adepts  and  seconda- 
ry agents  were  induced'  to  join 
them.  These  pretended  philoso- 
phers  used  every  artifice  that  im- 
piety could  invent,  by  union  and 
secret  correspondence,  to  attack,  to 
debase,  and  annihilate  Christianity, 
They  not  only  acted  in  concert, 
sparing  no  political  or  impious 
art  to  effect  the  destruction  of  the 
christian  religion,  but  they  were 
the  instigators  and  conductors  of 
those  secondary  agents  whom  they 
had  seduced,  and  pursued  their 
plan  with  all  the  ardour  and  con- 
stancy which  denotes  the  most  fi- 
nished conspirators. 

The  French  clergy  amounted 
to  one  hundred  and  thirty  thou- 
sand, the  higher  orders  of  whom 
enjoyed  immense  revenues;  but 
the  cures,  or  great  body  of  acting 
clergy,  seldom  possessed  more  than 
twenty-eight  pounds  sterling  a  year, 
and  their  vicars  about  half  the 
sum.  The  clergy  as  a  body,  inde- 
pendent of  their  titles,  possessed 
a  revenue  arising  from  their  pro- 
perty in  land,  amounting  to  five 


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145 


cnn 


miUioBS-  sterling'  annuaHy  ;  at  the 
same  time  they  were  exempt  from 
taxation.  Before  the  levelling  sys- 
tem had  taken  place,  the  clergy 
signified  to  the  commons  the  in- 
structions of  their  constituents,  to 
contribute  to  the  exigencies  of 
the  state  in  equal  proportion  with 
the  other  citizens.  Not  content- 
ed with  this  offer,  the  tithes  and 
revenues  of  the  clergy  were  taken 
away;  in  lieu  of  which,  it  was 
proposed  to  grant  a  certain  stipend 
to  the  different  ministers  of  reli- 
gion, to  be  payable  by  the  nation. 
The  possessions  of  the  church  were 
then  considered  as  national  pro- 
perty by  a  decree  of  the  consti- 
tuent assembly.  The  reiigioiis 
orders,  viz.  the  communities  of 
monks  and  nuns,  possessed  im- 
mense landed  estates  ;  and,  after 
having  abolished  the  orders,  the 
assembly  seized  the  estates  for  the 
use  of  the  nation  ;  the  gates  of 
the  cloisters  were  nov/  thrown 
opeui  The  next  step  of  the  as- 
sembly was  to  establish  what  is 
called  the  civil  constitutt07i  of  the 
clergy.  This,  the  Roman  Catho- 
lics assert,  was  in  direct  opposi- 
tion to  their  religion.  But  though 
opposed  with  energetic  eloquence, 
the  decree  passed,  and  was  soon 
after  followed  by  another,  oblig- 
ing the  clergy  to  swear  to  main- 
tain their  civil  constitution.  Every 
artifice  which  cunning,  and  every 
menace  which  cruelty  could  in- 
vent, were  used  to  induce  them  to 
take  the  oath ;  great  numbers, 
however,  refused.  One  hundred 
and  thirty-eight  bishops  and  arch- 
bishops, sixty-eight  curates  or  vi- 
cars, were  on  this  account  driven 
from  their  sees  and  parishes.  Three 


hundred  of  the  priests  we're  mss'- 
sacred  in  one  day  in  one  city* 
All  the  other  pastors  who  adhered 
to  their  religion  were  either  sa- 
crificed, or  banished  from  their 
country,  seeking  through  a  thou- 
sand dangers  a  refuge  among  fo- 
reign nations.  A  perusal  of  the 
horrid  massacres  of  the  priests  who. 
refused  to  take  the  oaths,  and  the 
various  forms  of  persecution  em- 
ployed by  tliose  who  were  attached 
to  the  Catholic  religion,  must 
deeply  wound  the  feelings  of  hu- 
manity. Those  readers  who  are 
desirous  of  farther  information, 
are  referred  to  Abbe  Barruel's 
History  of  the  Clergy. 

Some  think  that  there  was  an- 
other cause  of  the  revolution,  and 
which  may  be  traced  as  far  back 
at  least  as  the  revocation  of  the 
edict  of  Nantz  in  the  seventeenth 
centurj',  when  the  great  body  of 
French  Protestants,  who  were  men^ 
of  principle,  were  either  murder- 
ed or  banished,  and  the  rest  in  a 
manner  silenced.  The  effect  of 
this  sanguinary  measure  (say  they) 
must  needs  be  the  general  preva- 
lence of  infidelity.  Let  the  ra- 
ligious  part  of  any  nation  be  ba- 
nished, and  a  general  spread  of 
irreligion  must  necessarily  follow : 
such  were  the  effects  in  France. 
Through  the  whole  of  the  eigh- 
teenth century  infidelity  has  been 
the  fashion,  and  that  not  only 
among  the  princes  and  noblesse, 
but  even  among  the  greater  part 
of  the  bishops  and  clergy.  And 
as  thev  had  united  their  influence 
in  banishing  true  religion,  and 
cherishing  the  monster  which  suc- 
ceeded it,  so  have  they  been  united 
in  sustaining  the  calamitous  effects 


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150 


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which  that  monster  has  produced, 
However  unprincipled  and  cruel 
the  French  revolutionists  have 
been,  and  however  much  the  suf- 
ferers, as  fellow  creatures,  are 
entitled  to  our  pity  ;  yet,  consider- 
ing the  event  as  the  just  retribu- 
tion of  God,  we  are  constrained 
to  say,  *'  Thou  art  righteous,  oh  ! 
Lord,  who  art,  and  wast,  and  shall 
be,  because  thou  hast  judged  thus ; 
for  they  have  shed  the  blood  of 
saints  and  prophets,  and  thou  hast 
given  them  blood  to  drink  ;  for 
they  are  worthy." 

The  Catholic  reliffion   is   now 

O 

again  established,  but  with  a  tole- 
ration of  the  Protestants,  under 
some  restrictions. — See  the  Can- 
cordat^  or  religious  establishment 
of  the  French  Republic,  ratified 
September  10th,  1801. 

CHURCH  GREEK  orEAST- 
ERN,  comprehends  the  churches 
of  all  the  countries  anciently  sub- 
ject to  the  Greek  or  Eastern  em- 
pire, and  through  which  their  lan- 
guage was  carried  ;  that  is,  all  the 
space  extended  from  Greece  to 
Mesopotamia  and  Persia,  and 
thence  into  Eg}'pt.  This  church 
has  been  divided  from  the  Roman 
ever  since  the  time  of  the  em- 
peror Phocas.  See  article  Greek 
Church. 

CHURCH  HIGH.  See  High 
Chhrch. 

CHURCH  OF  IRELAND  is 
the  same  as  the  church  of  England, 
and  is  governed  by  four  arch- 
bishops and  eighteen  bishops. 

CHURCH  LATIN  or  WEST- 
ERN, comprehends  all  the  church- 
es of  Italy,  Portugal,  Spain,  Africa, 
the  north,  and  all  other  countries 
whither  the  Roi-nans  carried  their 
language.     Great  Britain,  part  of 


the  Netherlands,  of  Germany,  and 
of  the  north  of  Europe,  have  been 
separated  from  it  almost  ever  since 
the  reformation. 

CHURCH  REFORMED,  com- 
prehends the  whole  Protestant 
churches  in  Europe  and  America, 
whether  Lutheran,  Calvinistic,  In- 
dependent, Quaker,  Baptist,  or  of 
any  other  denomination  who  dis- 
sent from  the  church  of  Rome. 

CHURCH  ROMAN  CA- 
THOLIC, claims  the  title  of  be- 
ing the  mother  church,  and  is  un- 
doubtedly the  most  ancient  of  all 
the  established  churches  in  Chris- 
tendom, if  antiquity  be  held  as  a 
proof  of  primitive  purity.  See 
Popery. 

CHURCH  OF  SCOTLAND, 
established  by  the  law  in  that  king- 
dom, is  presbyterian,\vhich  has  ex- 
isted (with  some  interruptions  dur- 
ing the  reign  of  the  Stewarts)  ever 
since  the  time  of  John  Knox,  when 
the  voice  of  the  people  prevailed 
against  the  influence  of  the  crown 
in  getting  it  established.  Its  doc- 
trines are  Calvinistic.  See  article 
Ppesbyterians. 

CHURCHWARDENS,  offi- 
cers  chosen  yearly,  either  by  the 
consent  of  the  minister,  or  of  the 
parishioners,  or  of  both.  Their  bu- 
siness is  to  look  to  the  church, 
church-yard,  and  to  observe  the 
behaviour  of  the  parishioners  :  to 
level  a  shilling  forfeiture  on  all 
such  as  do  not  go  to  church  on 
Sundays,  and  to  keep  persons  or- 
derly in  church-time,  &c. 

CHURCH-YARD,  a  piece  of 
ground  adjoining  to  the  church, 
set  apart  for  the  interment  of  the 
dead.  In  the  church  of  Rome 
church-yards  are  consecrated  with 
great  solemnity.  If  a  church-yard 


CIR 


15i 


CIR 


which  has  been  thus  consecrated 
shall  afterwards  be  polluted  by 
any  indecent  action,  or  profaned 
by  the  burial  of  an  infidel,  an 
heretic,  an  excommunicated  or 
unbaptized  person,  it  must  be  re- 
coticiled ;  and  the  ceremony  of  the 
reconciliation  is  performed  with 
the  same  solemnity  as  that  of  the 
consecration !  See  Consecra- 
tion. 

CIRCONCELLIONES,aspe- 
cies  of  fanatics  ;  so  called  because 
they  were  continually  ■  rambling 
round  the  houses  in  the  country. 
They  took  their  rise  among  the 
Donatists,  in  the  reign  of  the  em- 
peror Constantine.  It  is  incredible 
what  ravages  and  cruelties  they 
committed  in  Africa,  through  a 
long  series  of  years.  They  were 
illiterate  savage  peasants,  who 
understood  only  the  Punic  lan- 
guage. Intoxicated  with  a  bar- 
barous zeal,  they  renounced  agri- 
culture, professed  continence,  and 
assumed  the  title  of  "  Vindica- 
tors of  Justice,  and  protectors  of 
the  oppressed."  To  accomplish 
their  mission,  they  enfranchized 
slaves,  scoured  the  roads,  forced 
masters  to  alight  from  their  cha- 
riots, and  run  before  their  slaves, 
whom  they  obliged  to  mount  in 
their  place  ;  and  discharged  debt- 
ors, killing  the  creditors  if  they 
refused  to  cancel  their  bonds. 
But  the  chief  objects  of  their 
cruelty  were  the  Catholics,  and 
especially  those  who  had  renounc- 
ed Donatism.  At  first  they  used 
no  swords,  because  Glod  had  for- 
bidden the  Use  of  one  to  Peter  : 
but  they  were  armed  with  clubs, 
which  they  called  the  clubs  of 
Israel,   and  which  they  handled 


in  such  a  manner  as  to  break  a 
man's  bones  v/ithout  killing  him 
immediately,  so  that  he  languished 
a  long  time,  and  then  died.  When 
they  took  away   a  man's   life  at 
once,  they   looked   upon  it  as   a 
favour.    They  became  less  scru- 
pulous afterwards,  and  made  use 
of  all  sorts  of  arms.   Their  shout 
was.   Praise   be   to    God.     These 
words  in  their  mouths  were   the 
signal    of    slaughter,    more    ter- 
rible than  the  roaring  of  a  lion. 
They  had  invented  an  unheard-of 
punishment,  which  was  to  cover 
with  lime,  diluted  with  vinegar, 
the  eyes  of  those  unhappy  wretch- 
es whom  they  had  crushed  with 
blows  and  covered  with  wounds, 
and  to  abandon  them  in  that  con- 
dition.      Never   was   a   stronger 
proof    what  horrors   superstition 
can  beget  in  minds   destitute  of 
knowledge  and  humanity.    These 
brutes,  v/ho  had  made  a  vow  of 
chastity,    gave  themselves  up  to 
wine,  and  all  sorts  of  impurities  ; 
running  about  with   women   and 
young   girls,  as  drunk  as  them- 
selves, whom  they  called  sacred 
virgins^    and   who   often   carried 
proofs  of  their  incontinence.  Their 
chief  took  the  name  of  chief  of 
the   saints.     After    having   glut- 
ted themselves  with  blood,  they 
turned  their  rage  upon  themselves, 
and  sought  death  with  the  same 
fury  with  which  they  gave  it  to 
others.     Some   scrambled  up   to 
the  tops  of  rocks,  and  cast  them- 
selves down  headlong  in   multi- 
tudes ;   others  burned  themselves, 
or  threw  themselves  into  the  sea. 
Those  who  proposed  to  acquire 
the  title  of  martyrs  published   it 
long  before;     upon  which   they 


CIS 


152 


C  L  E 


were  feasted  and  fattened  like 
oxen  for  the  slaughter ;  afterthese 
preparations  they  sat  out  to  be 
destroyed.  Sometimes  they  gave 
jnoney  to  those  whom  they  met, 
and  threatened  to  murder  them 
if  they  did  not  make  them  mar- 
tyrs. Theodorat  ^ives  an  account 
of  a  stout  young  man,  who,  meet- 
ing with  a  troop  of  these  fanatics, 
consented  to  kill  them,  provided 
he  might  bind  them  first;  and  hav- 
ing by  this  means  put  it  out  of 
their  power  to  defend  themselv^es, 
v/hipped  them  as  long  as  he  was 
able,  and  then  left  them  tied  in 
that  manner.  Their  bishops  pre- 
tended to  blame  them,  but  in  rea- 
lity made  use  of  them  to  intimi- 
date such  as  might  be  tempted  to 
forsake  their  sect ;  they  even  ho- 
noured them  as  saints.  They  were 
not,  however,  able  to  govern  those 
furious  monsters  ;  and  more  than 
once  found  themselves  under  a 
necessity  of  abandoning  them,  and 
even  of  imploring  the  assistance  of 
the  secular  power  against  them. 
The  counts  Ursacius  and  Tau- 
rinus  were  employed  to  quell 
them :  they  destroyed  a  great 
number  of  them,  of  whom  the 
Donatists  made  as  many  martyrs. 
Ursacius,  who  was  a  Catholic, 
and  a  religious  man,  having  lost 
his  life  in  an  engagement  with  the 
barbarians,  the  Donatists  did  not 
fall  to  triumph  in  his  death,  as  an 
effect  of  the  vengeance  of  heaven. 
Africa  was  the  theatre  of  these 
bloody  scenes  during  a  great  a  part 
©f  Constantine's  life. 

CISTERTIANS,  a  religious 
order  founded  by  St.  Robert,  a  Be- 
nedictine, in  the  eleventh  century. 
They  became   so  powerful,  that 


they  governed  almost  all  Europe 
both  in  spirituals  and  tem.porals. 
Cardinal  de  Vitri,  describing  their 
observances,  says,  they  aeither 
wore  skins  nor  shirts,  nor  ever 
ate  flesh,  except  in  sickness;  and 
abstained  from  fish,  eggs,  milk^, 
and  cheese  :  they  lay  upon  -straw- 
beds  in  tunics  and  cowls.;  they 
rose  at  midnight  to  prayers ,;  they 
spent  the  day  in  labour,  reading, 
and  prayer ;  and  in  all  their  exer- 
cises observed  a  continual  silence. 

CLEMENCY  denotes  much 
the  same  as  mercy.  It  is  most  ge- 
nerally used  in  speaking  of  the 
forgiveness  exercised  by  princes. 
It  is  the  result,  indeed,  of  a  dis- 
position which  ought  to  be  cultivat- 
ed by  all  ranks,  though  its  effects 
cannot  be  equally  conspicuous. 

Cleinency  is  not  only  the  privi- 
lege, the  honour,  and  the  duty  of 
a  prince,  but  it  is  also  his  secu- 
rity, and  better  than  all  his  garri- 
sons, forts,  and  guards,  to  pre- 
serve himself  and  his  dominions  in 
safety.  That  prince  is  truly  royal 
who  masters  himself,  looks  upon 
all  injuries  as  below  him,  and  go- 
verns by  equity  and  reason,  not 
by  pkssion  or  caprice.  David, 
king  of  Israel,  appears  in  no  in- 
stance greater  or  more  amiable 
than  in  sparing  the  life  of  his  per-' 
secutor  Saul  when  it  was  in  his 
power, 

CLERGY  (from  the  Greek  word 
yM^os^  heritage),  in  the  general 
sense  of  the  word,  as  used  by  us, 
signifies  the  body  of  ecclesiastics 
of  the  christian  church,  in  contra- 
diction to  the  laity;  but  strict- 
ly speaking,  and  according  to 
scripture,  it  means  the  church. — 
"  When  Joshua,"  as  one  cb^ervas, 


CLE 


153 


CLE 


**  divided  the  Holy  Land  by  lot 
among  the  Israelites,  it  pleased 
God  to  provide  for  a  thirteenth 
part  of  them,  called  Levites,  by 
assigning  them  a  personal  estate 
equivalent  to  that  provision  made 
by  real  estate  which  was  allotted 
to  each  of  the  other  tv,  elve  parts. 
In  conformity  to  the  style  of  the 
transaction,  the  Levites  were  call- 
ed God's  lot^  inheritance^  or  clergy. 
This  style,  however,  is  not  alvvays 
used  by  the  Old  Testament  writers. 
Sometimes  they  call  a/l  the  nation 
God's  /(??,  Deut.  xxxii,  9.  Ps. 
Ixxviii,  71.  Ps.  xxviii,  9,  &c.  The 
New  Testament  writers  adopt  this 
term,  and  apply  it  to  the  whole 
christian  church,  Jst  Pet.  v,  3. 
Thus  it  is  the  church  distinguished 
from  the  world,  and  not  one  part 
of  the  church  as  distinguished 
from  another  part."  The  word 
clergy,  however,  among  us,  al- 
ways refers  to  ecclesiastics. 

The  clergy  originally  consisted 
of  bishops,  priests,  and  deacons  ; 
but  in  the  third  century  many  in- 
ferior orders  were  appointed;  such 
as  sub-deacons,  acoluthists,  read- 
ers, &c.  The  clergy  of  the  church 
of  Rome  are  divided  into  regular 
and  secular.  The  regular  consists 
of  those  monks  or  religious  who 
have  taken  upon  them  holy  orders 
of  the  priesthood  in  their  respec- 
tive monasteries.  The  secular 
clergy  are  those  who  are  not  of 
any  religious  order,  and  have  the 
care  and  direction  of  parishes. 
The  Protestant  clergy  arc  all  se- 
cular. For  archbishops,  bishops, 
deans,  &c.  &c.,  see  those  arti- 
cles. 

The  clergy  have  large  privileges 
allowed  them   bv   our   municipal 

Vol.  L  '  Xi 


laws,  and  had  foraierly  muck 
greater,  which  were  abridged  at 
the  reformation,  on  account  of 
the  ill  use  which  the  popish  clergy 
had  endeavoured  to  make  of  them ; 
for  the  laws  having  exempted 
them  from  almost  every  personal 
duty,  they  attempted  a  total  ex- 
ethption  from  every  secular  tie. 
The  personal  exemptions,  indeed, 
for  the  most  part,  continue.  A 
clergyman  cannot  be  compelled 
to  serve  on  a  jury,  nor  to  appear 
at  a  court  leet,  which  airaost 
every  other  person  is  obliged  to 
do  ;  but  if  a  layman  be  summoned 
on  a  jury,  and  before  the  trial 
takes  orders,  he  shall  notwith- 
standing appear,  and  be  sworn. 
Neither  can  he  be  chosen  to  any 
temporal  office  ;  as  bailiff,  reeve, 
constable,  or  the  like,  in  regard  of 
his  own  continual  attendance  on 
the  sacred  function.  During  his 
attendance  on  divine  sei"vice,  he  is 
privileged  from  arrests  in  civil 
suits.  In  cases  of  felony  also,  a 
clerk  in  orders  shall  have  the  be- 
nefit of  clergy  without  beingbrand- 
ed  in  the  hand,  and  may  likewise 
have  it  more  than  once  ;  in  both 
which  cases  he  is  distinguished 
from  a  layman. 

Benefit  of  Clergy  was  a  privilege 
whereby  a  clergyman  claimed 
to  be  delivered  to  his  ordinary 
to  purge  himself  of  felony,  and 
v/hich  anciently  was  allowed  only 
to  those  who  were  in  orders  ;  but, 
by  the  statute  of  18th  Eliz.,  every 
man  to  whom  the  benefit  of  clergy 
is  granted,  though  not  in  orders, 
is  put  to  read  at  the  bar,  after  he 
is  found  guilty,  and  convicted  of 
felony,  and  so  burnt  in  the  hand  ; 
and  .set  free  for  the  first  time,  if 


coc 


154 


COC 


die  ordinary  or  deputy  standing 
by  do  say,  Legit  ut  clericus  ; 
otherwise  he  shall  suiFer  death. 
As  the  clergy  have  their  privi- 
leges, so  they  have  also  their  dis- 
abilities, on  account  of  their 
spiritual  avocations.  Clergymen 
are  incapable  of  sitting  in  the 
house  of  commons  ;  and  by  sta- 
tute 21  Henry  VIII,  c  13,  are 
not  in  general  allowed  to  take 
any  lands  or  tenements  to  farm, 
vipon  pain  of  10/.  per  month,  and 
total  avoidance  of  the  lease  ;  nor 
upon  like  pain  to  keep  any  tap- 
house or  brewhouse  ;  nor  engage 
in  any  trade,  nor  sell  any  mer- 
chandise, under  forfeiture  of  the 
treble  value ;.  which  prohibition 
is  consonant  to  the  canon  law. 

The  number  of  clergy  in  Eng- 
land and  Wales  amount,  accord- 
ing to  the  best  calculation,  to 
about  18,000.  The  revenues  of 
the  clergy  were  formerly  con- 
siderable, but  since  the  reforma- 
tion they  arc  comparatively  small, 
at  least  those  of  tb^  inferior  cler- 
gy. See  the  Bishop  of  Landaff"'s 
Valuation  of  the  Church  and  Uni- 
versity Revenues  ;  or.  Cove  on  the 
Revenues  of  the  Churchy  1797,  2d 
edition  ;  Burnetfs  Hist,  of  his  oxvn 
Times^  conclusion.  See  article 
Minister. 

CLERK  :  1.  A  word  originally 
used  to  denote  a  learned  man,  or 
man  of  letters;  but  now  is  the 
common  appellation  by  which  cler- 
gymen distinguish  themselves  in 
signing  any  deed  or  instrument. — 
2.  Also  the  person  who  reads  the 
responses  of  the  congregation  in 
the  church,  or  gives  out- the  hymns 
at  a  meeting. 

COCCEIANS,  a  denomination 


which  arose  in  the  seventeenth 
century ;  so  called  from  John 
Cocceius,  professor  of  divinity 
in  the  university  of  Leyden.  He 
represented  the  whole  history  of 
the  Old  Testament  as  a  mirror, 
which  held  forth  an  accurate 
view  of  the  transactions  and  events 
that  were  to  happen  in  the 
church  under  the  dispensation  of 
the  New  Testament  and  unto  the 
end  of  the  world.  He  maintain- 
ed that  by  far  the  greatest  part 
of  the  ancient  prophecies  foretold 
Christ's  ministry  and  mediation, 
and  the  rise,  progress,  and  revolu- 
tions of  the  church,  not  only  un- 
der the  figure  of  persons  and 
transactions,  but  in  a  literal  man- 
ner, and  by  the  very  sense  of  the 
words  used  in  these  predictions,;, 
and  laid  it  down  as  a  fundamental 
rule  of  interpretation,  that  the 
words  and  phrases  of  scripture 
are  to  be  understood  in  every 
sense  of  which  they  are  suscepti- 
ble, or,  in  other  words,  that  they 
signify  in  effect  every  thing  that 
they  can  possibly  signify. 

Cocceius  also  taught,  that  the 
covenant  made  between  God  and 
the  Jewish  nation,  by  the  ministry 
of  Moses,  was  of  the  same  nature 
as  the  new  covenant,  obtained  by 
the  mediation,  of  Jesus  Christ.  In 
consequence  of  this  general  prin- 
ciple, he  maintained  that  the  ten 
commandments  were  promulgated 
by  Moses,  not  as  a  rule  of  obcr 
dience,  but  as  a  representation  of 
the  covenant  of  grace — that  when 
the  Jews  had  provoked  the  Deity 
by  their  various  transgressions^ 
particularly  by  the  worship  of  the 
I  golden  calf,  the  severe  and  servile 
I  yoke  of  the  ceremonial  law  was^ 


C  CE  N 


155 


COL 


added  to  the  decalogue,  as  a  pu- 
nishment inflicted  on  them  by  the 
Suprr;me  Being  in  his  righteous 
'displeasure — that  this  yoke,  which 
was  painful  in  itself,  became 
doubly  so  on  account  of  its  ty- 
pical signification  j  since  it  ad- 
monished the  Israelites  from  day 
to  day  of  the  imperfection  and 
uncertainty  of  their  state,  filled 
them  with  anxiety,  and  was  a 
perpetual  proof  that  they  had 
merited  the  righteous  displeasure 
of  God,  and  could  not  expect 
before  the  coming  of  the  Messiah 
the  entire  remission  of  their  ini- 
quities— that  indeed  good  men, 
even  under  the  Mosaic  dispensa- 
tion, were  immediately  after  death 
made  partakers  of  everlasting  glo- 
ry ;  but  that  they  were  nevertheless, 
during  the  whole  course  of  their 
lives,  far  removed  from  that  firm 
hope  and  assurance  of  salvation, 
which  rejoices  the  faithful  under 
the  dispensation  of  the  gospel — 
and  that  their  anxiety  flowed 
naturally  from  this  consideration, 
that  their  sins,  though  they  remain 
unpunished,  were  not  pardoned  ; 
because  Christ  had  not  as  yet  of- 
fered himself  up  a  sacrifice  to  the 
Father,  to  make  an  entire  atone- 
m.ent  for  them. 

CCENOBITE,  one  who  lives 
in  a  convent,  or  in  community, 
under  a  certain  rule  ;  in  oppo- 
sition to  a  hermit,  who  lives  in 
solitude.  Cassian  makes  this  dif- 
fei*ence  between  a  convent  and 
a  monasteru^  that  the  latter  may 
be  applied  to  the  residence  of  a 
single  religious  or  recluse  ;  where- 
as the  convent  implies  coenobites, 
or  numbers  of  religious  living  in 
common.     Fleury  speaks  of  three 


kinds  of  monks  in  Egypt ;  anci" 
chorets^  who  live  in  solitude  ;  ca?- 
nobites^  who  continue  to  live  in 
community  ;  and  sarahaites^  who 
are  a  kind  of  monks-errant,  that 
stroll  from  place  to  place.  He  re>- 
fers  the  institution  of  coenobites 
to  the  time  qf  the  apostles,  and 
makes  it  a  kind  of  imitation  o£ 
the  ordinary  lives  of  the  faithful 
at  Jerusalem  \  though  St.  Pacho- 
mius  is  ordinarily  owned  to  be 
the  institutor  of  the  coenobite  life, 
as  being  the  first  who  gave  a  rule 
to  any  community. 

COLLECT,  a  short  prayer. 
In  the  liturgy  ef  the  church  of 
England,  and  the  mass  of  the  Ro- 
manists, it  denotes  a  prayer  ac- 
commodated to  any  particular 
day,  occasion,  or  the  like.  In 
general,  all  the  prayers  in  each 
office  are  called  collects^  either 
because  the  priest  speaks  in  the 
name  of  the  whole  assembly^ 
whose  sentiments  and  desires  he 
sums  up  by  the  word  "  Oremus,'* 
"  Let  us  pray,"  or  because  those 
prayers  ar€  offered  when  the  peo- 
ple are  assembled  together.  The 
popes  Gelasius  and  Gregory  are 
said  to  have  been  the  first  who 
established  collects.  Dr.  De- 
spence,  of  Paris,  wrote  a  treatise 
on  collects,  their  origin,  antiqui- 
ty, &c. 

COLLEGIANS, or  Colt.egi- 
ANTS,  a  sect  formed  among  the 
Arminians  and  Anabaptists  in 
Holland,  about  the  beginning  of 
the  seventeenth  century  :  so  call- 
ed because  of  their  colleges  or 
meetings  twice  ever}^  week,  where 
every  one,  females  excepted,  has 
the  same  liberty  of  expounding 
the  scripture,  praying,  &c.     They 


COL 


156 


c  Dm 


are  said  to  be  all  either  Arians 
or  Socinians :  they  never  com- 
municate in  the  college,  but  meet 
twice  a  year,  from  all  parts  of 
Holiaiid,  at  Rhinsbergh  (whence 
they  are  also cdL'lo.^ Rh'insberghers) ^ 
a  village  two  miles  from  Levden, 
where  they  communicate  togirther ; 
admitting  every  one  that  presents 
himself,  professing  his  faitli  in 
the  divinity  of  the  holy  scriptures, 
and  resolution  to  live  suitably  to 
their  precepts  and  doctrines,  Avith- 
out  regard  to  his  sect  or  opinion. 
They  have  no  particular  minis- 
ters, but  each  oiiiciates  as  he 
is  disposed.  They  baptize  by  im- 
mersion. 

COLLEGIATE  CHURCH 
was  such  as  was  built  at  a  conve- 
nient distance  from  the  cathedral 
church,  v.'herein  a  number  of 
presbyters  were  settled,  and  lived 
together  in  one  congregation.  Such 
churches  have  no  bishop's  see,}'et 
have  the  ancient  retinue  of  the 
bishops,  the  canons,  and  prebends. 
Such  are  Westminster,  Rippon, 
Windsor,  &c.,  governed  by  deans 
and  chapters. 

COLLUTHIANS,  a  sect  which 
rose  about  the  beginning  of  the 
fourth  century,  on  occasion  of 
the  indulgence  shewn  to  Arius  by 
Alexander,  patriarch  of  Alex- 
andria. Several  people  were  of- 
fended at  so  much  condescension, 
and  among  the  rest  CoUuthus,  a 
priest  of  the  same  city  ;  who  took 
occasion  from  hence  to  hold  sepa- 
rate assemblies,  and  by  degrees 
proceeded  to  the  ordination  of; 
priests,  as  if  he  had  been-a  bishop ; ; 
declaring  that  tlvere  was  a  neces-  I 
siiy  ior  this  authority,  in  order  to 
Oppose  Arius.    He  was  condemn-  I 


ed    by   a   council   held  at    Alex- 
andria, by  Arius,  in  the  year  330. 

COLLYRIDIANS,  a  sect  of 
the  fourth  century  ;  so  denominat- 
ed from  a  little  cake,  called  by  the 
Greeks  colhjridia^  v.hich  they  of- 
fei-ed  to  the  Virgin  Mary.  This 
sect,  it  seems,  consisted  chiefly  of 
Arabian  women,  who,  cut  of  an 
extravagant  veneration  for  the 
Virgin,  rnet  on  a  certain  day  in 
the  vear  to  celebrate  a  solemn 
feast,  and  to  render  divine  ho- 
nours to  Mary  as  to  a  goddess, 
eating  the  cake,  which  they  of- 
fered in  her  name. 

COMMENTARY,  an  exposi- 
tion  ;  book  of  annotations  or  re- 
marks. There  are  some  people  so 
wise  in  their  own  conceit,  and  think 
human  helps  of  so  little  worth,  that 
they  despise  commentaries  on  the 
scriptures  altogether ;  but  every 
student  or  preacher  whose  business 
is  to  explain  the  sacred  oracles,  to 
make  known  the  mind  of  God  to 
others,  to  settle  cases  of  consci- 
ence, to  oppose  the  sophistry  c^f 
sceptics,  and  to  confound  the  argu- 
ments of  infidels,  would  do  weU 
to  avail  himself  of  the  most  judi- 
cious, clear,  copious,  critical,  and 
sound  commentaries  on  the  Bible. 
Nor  can  I  suppose  that  commenta- 
ries can  be  useless  to  the  common 
people  ;  for  though  a  spirit  of  seri- 
ous enquiry,  with  a  little  good 
sense,  will  go  a  great  v/ay  in  under- 
standing the  Bible,  yet  as  the  lan- 
guage is  often  figurative,  as  allu- 
sions are  made  to  ancient  customs, 
and  some  parts  require  more  inves- 
tigation than  many  common  chris- 
tians have  time  for,  a  plain  exposi- 
tion certainly  mustbe  useful.  Ex- 
positions of  the  Bible,  however, 


COM 


157 


COM 


may  be  made  a  bad  use  of.  He 
who  takes  the  ipse  dixit  of  a  com- 
mentator, without  ever  examin- 
ing whether  the  meaning  given 
comport  with  the  text ;  he  who 
gives  himself  no  trouble  to  inves- 
tigate the  scripture  for  himself, 
but  takes  occasion  to  be  indolent 
because  others  have  laboured  for 
him,  surely  does  wrong.  Nor 
can  it  be  said  that  those  preachers 
use  them  properly,  who,  in  mak- 
ing their  sermons,  form  their  plans 
from  the  commentator  before  they 
have  thought  upon  the  text.  Per- 
haps the  best  way  is  to  follow  our 
own  talents;  first  by  prayer,  study, 
and  attention  to  form  our  scheme, 
and  then  to  examine  the  opinions 
of  others  concerning  it.  We  will 
here  present  the  reader  with  a  view 
of  some  of  those  commentaries 
which  are  the  most  generally  ap- 
proved. And,  1.  in  my  opinion, 
Henry  takes  the  lead  for  com- 
mon utility.  The  sprightly  notes, 
the  just  inferences,  the  original 
thoughts,  and  the  warm  applica- 
tions to  the  conscience,  make  this 
work  justly  admired.  It  is  true 
that  there  are  some  expressions 
which  do  not  agree  with  the  evan- 
gelic system  ;  but  as  the  late  Mr. 
Kyland  observes,  "  'tis  impossi- 
ble for  a  person  of  piety  and  taste 
to  read  him  without  wishing  to  be 
shut  out  from  all  the  world  to  read 
him  through  without  one  moment's 
interruption.^''  Mr.  Henry  did  not 
live  to  complete  this  work.  He 
went  as  far  as  the  end  of  Acts. 
Romans  was  done  by  Dr.  Evans  ; 
the  1st  Corinthians,  Sam.  Brown  ; 
2d  Corinthians,  Dr.  Mayo  ;  Gala- 
tians,  Mr.  Bayes  ;  Ephesians,  Mr. 
Bosvvcll:  Philippians,  Mr.  Harris; 


Colossi ans,  Mr.  Harris  ;  1st  an3 
2d  Thesst-ilonians,  Mr.  Mayo;  1st 
and  2d  Timothy,  Mr.  Atkinson  ; 
Titus,  Jer.  Smith;  Philemon,  Mr. ' 
Mottershead;  Hebrews,  Mr.Tong; 
James,  Mr.  Wright ;  1st  Peter, 
Mr.  Hill ;  2d  Peter,  Mr.  Morril ; 
1st,  2d,  and  3d  John,  Mr.  Rey- 
nolds ;  Jude,  Mr.  Billingsley;  and 
Revelations  by  Mr.  Tong. 

2.  Pooli  Synopsis  Criticorum, 
5  folio  volumes.  This  is  a  valuable 
work,  and  ought  to  be  in  the  pos- 
session of  every  student :  it  is  much 
esteemed  abroad,  three  editions  of 
it  having  been  published  on  the 
continent. 

3.  Poole's  Annotations,  a  rich 
and  useful  v/ork.  These  were 
printed  at  London  in  1685,  in  two 
volumes,  folio.  Poole  did  not 
complete  this  work  himself.  Mr. 
Jackson,  of  Moulsey,  is  the  au- 
thor of  the  annotations  on  the 
59th  and  60th  chap,  of  Isaiah. 
Dr.  CoUings  drew  up  the  notes  on 
the  rest  of  Isaiah,  Jeremiah,  and 
Lamentations,  as  also  those  on  the 
four  Evangelists,  the  two  epistles 
to  the  Corinthians,  and  that  to 
the  Galatians.  Those  to  Timothy, 
Titus,  Philemon,  and  the  Revela- 
tions, Ezekiel,  and  the  Minor 
Prophets,  were  done  by  Mr. 
Hurst.  Daniel  by  Mr.  Cooper; 
the  Acts  by  Mr.  Vinke ;  the 
epistle  to  the  Romans  by  Mr, 
Mayo ;  the  Ephesians,  Mr,  Veale ; 
the  Philippians  and  Colossians, 
Mr.  Aclams  ;  the  Hebrews,  Mr. 
Obadiah  Hughes  ;  the  epistle  of 
St.  James,  the  two  of  St.  Peter, 
and  that  of  Jude,  by  Mr.  Veale  j 
the  three  epistles  of  St.  John  by 
Mr.  Howe. 

4.  Dr.  CTill's,  in  9  vol.  folio,  is 


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an  immense  work  ;  and  though  it 
contain  a  good  deal  of  repetition 
and  extraneous  matter,  there  is 
certainly  a  vast  fund  of  informa- 
tion together  with  evangelical  sen- 
timent. 

5.  BrowTi's  Self-interpreting  Bi- 
ble is  an  admirable  book,  either  for 
ministers  or  families.  Its  chief 
excellencies  are  the  marginal  re- 
ferences, which  are  exceedingly 
useful  to  preachers ;  and  the  close, 
plain,  and  practical  improvement 
to  each  chapter. 

6.  Scott's  Exposition  abounds 
with  practical  remarks.  The  im- 
provements are  a  kind  of  sermons, 
and  will  be  found  very  useful  for 
faniilies. 

On  the  New  Testament. 

1.  Burkitt  contains  many  in- 
genious observations,  fine  turns, 
natural  plans,  and  pungent  ad- 
dresses to  the  conscience.  There 
ai'e  some  legal  expi'essions,  how- 
ever, that  grate  upon  the  ear  of  the 
evangelical  christian. 

2.  Guyse's  Paraphrase  is  de- 
servedly held  in  high  estimation 
for  sound  doctrine,  fair  explica- 
tion, and  just  sentiment. 

3.  Doddridge's  Family  Expo- 
sitor. The  criticisms  in  this  work 
render  it  valuable  ;  and  if  some 
of  them  be  dry,  it  must  be  owned 
that  the  doctor  laboured  to  come 
as  near  as  possible  to  the  true  sense 
of  the  text. 

4.  Bezse  Annotationes,  in  qui- 
bus  ratio  interpretationis  i-edditur  ; 
accessit  etiam  J.  Camerarii  in  no- 
vum Icedus  commentarius,  fol. 
Cantab,  i-842,  contains,  besides 
the  old  Latin  version,  Beza's  own 
version  ;  and  in  the  side  margin 


is  given  a  summary  of  the  pas- 
sage, and  in  the  argumentative 
parts  the  connexion. 

5.  Wolfii  Curse  Philologies,  & 
Criticae,  in  Omnes  Libros,  Nov. 
Test.  5  vol.  4to.  1^39,  Hamb. 
Basil,  1741.  This  is  in  a  great 
measure  a  compilation  after  the 
manner  of  Poole's  Synopsis,  but 
interspersed  with  his  own  critical 
animadversions. 

6.  Bengelii  Gnomon  Nov.  Test. 
4to.  Tubingse,  1759,  &  Ulmse, 
1 763)  contains  an  instructive  pre- 
face, a  perspicuous  analysis  of 
each  book,  with  short  notes.  It 
is  a  perfect  contrast  to  that  of 
Wolfius. 

7.  Raphelii  Annotationes  in  S. 
Scripturam,  &c.,  is  an  attempt 
to  illustrate  the  holy  scriptures 
from  the  classical  Greek  historians, 
Xenophon,  Polybius,  Arrian,  and 
Herodotus. 

8.  Hammond's  Paraphrase  and 
Annotations  upon  all  the  books  of 
the  New  Testament,  folio. 

9.  Whitby's  Paraphrase  and 
Com.  on  New  Test.  2  fol.  vol. 

10.  Wesley's  Explanatory  Notesi 
4to,  or  3  vol.  12mo.  Of  different 
translations,  see'article  Bible. 

Commentators  on  Select  Parts, 

1.  Ainsworth  on  Pentateuch, 
Psalms,  and  Song  of  Solomon. 

2.  Patrick's  Commentaries  on 
the  Historical  Parts  of  the  Holy 
Scriptures,  3  vol. 

3.  Lightfoot's  Works,  2  vol.  fol., 
contain  a  chronicle  of  the  times, 
and  the  order  of  the  text  of  the 
Old  Testament.  The  harmony, 
chronicle,  and  order  of  the  New 
Testament  J  the  harmony  of  the 


COM 


159 


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four  Evangelists  ;  a  commentary 
on  the  Acts ;  Horae  Hebraicse,  Sec; 
on  the  four  Evangelists,  Acts,  and 
1st  Corinthians. 

4.  Chrysostomi  Opera,  8  vol. 
folio,  contain  expositions  of  vari- 
ous parts. 

5.  Calvini  Opera  Omnia,  9  vol., 
contain  commentaries  on  Penta- 
teuch, Joshua,  homilies  onSamuel, 
sermons  on  Job,  commentaries  on 
Psalms,  Isaiah,  Evangelists,  Acts, 
Paul's  epistles,  and  the  other  ca- 
tholic epistles  ;  and  prselectiones 
on  Jeremiah,  Ezekiel,  Daniel,  and 
the  Minor  Prophets. 

6.  Lowth  on  the  Prophets. 

7.  Pocock  on  some  of  the  Minor 
Prophets. 

8.  Locke  on  Paul's  epistles. 

9.  Kutcheson  on  the  Smaller 
Prophets. 

10.  Newcome  on  Ezekiel  and 
Minor  Prophets. 

11.  Macknight's  Harmony  of 
the  Gospel,  and  Literal  Trans- 
lation of  all  the  Apostolical  Epis- 
tles, with  Commentary  and  Notes, 
3  vol.  4to. 

12.  CampbelFs  Translation  of 
the  Gospels,  with  Notes  and  Dis- 
sertations. 

On  Select  Books. 

On  Ruth:  Macgowan,  Law- 
son. 

On  Job:  1.  Caryll,  2  vol.  fol. 
— 2.  Hutchinson,  1669,  fol. — 3. 
Peters's  Critical  Dissertation  on 
Book  of  Job. 

On  the  Psalms:  1.  Molleri  Enarr, 

Psalm,  fol.  1619 2.  Hammond^s 

Paraphrase.; — 3.  AmesiiLectiones 
in  Omnes  Psalmos,  oct.  1636 — 4. 
Dickson. — 5.  Home's  Commen- 
tary.. — On  Select  Psalms:  1.  Hil- 


dersham's  152  Lectures  onPsalnt 
li. — 2.  Decoetlogon's  Serm.  on, 
Psalm  li. — 3.  Greenham  on  Psaln* 
cxix. — 4.  Manton  on  Psalm  cxix^ 
—5.  Owen  on  Psalm  cxxx. — 6. 
Romaine  on  Psalm  cvii. 

On  Proverbs :  Dr.  Mayer,  Tay- 
lor, lo.  Trapp. 

Ecclesiastes :  Broughton,  Jer- 
myn. 

Canticles  :  Bp.  Foliot,  Mercier, 
Sanchez,  Bossuet,  Cocceius,  Dr. 
James,  Ainsworth,  Durham,  bi- 
shop Hall,  bishop  Patrick,  Dove, 
Trapp,  Jackson,  Dr.  CoUings,  Dr- 
Gill,  Dr.  Percy,  Harmer,  Dr. 
Durell ;  but  the  most  recent,  and 
perhaps  the  best,  is  Williams's  new 
translation,  with  commentary,  &c., 
where  the  reader  will  find  a  list 
of  other  names,  who  have  trans- 
lated and  written  on  parts  of  this 
book. 

Isaiah :  Vitringa,  Lowth. 

Jeremiah :  Blayney. 

Ezekiel:  Greenhill,  Newcome. 

Daniel:  Willet's  Hexapla,  fol. 
Sir  Isaac  Newton  on  Prophecies 
of  Daniel. 

Hosea:  Burroughs.  Bishop  Hors- 
ley's  translation,  with  explanatory 
notes. 

Of  the  other  Minor  Prophets, 
see  Commentaries  on  Select  Parts. 

Gospels  :  See  above,  and  article 
Harmony.  Also  Hildersham  oa 
John  iv,  foL  Burgess  on  Joha 
xvii.  Manton  on  John  xv'i'w 

Acts:  Mayer,  Trapp. 

Romans :-  Wilson,  Parr. 

Galatians :  Luther,  Ferguson, 
Perkins. 

Ephesians:  Ferguson,  Good- 
win. 

Colossians :  Byfield,  Daven^it, 
Elton. 


COIN 


160 


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Titus  :  Dr.  Thomas  Taylor. 

Hebrews  :   Dr.  Owen. 
•     "James :   Manton. 

Peter  :   Leighton. 

jfoh?! :  Hardy  on  1st  Epistle. 

Jude :  Jenkins,  Manton. 

Revelation:  Mede,  D?.ubuz, 
Brightman,  Peganius,  Waple,  Ro- 
bertson, Vitringa,  Pyle,  Lowman, 
Sir  Isaac  Newton,  Durham,  Cra- 
dock,  Dr.  H.  Moore,  bp.  New- 
ton, Dr.  Bryce  Johnston. 

.  As  this  article  may  be  consulted 
for  the  purpose  of  obtaining  infor- 
mation as  to  the  best  helps  for 
understanding  the  scriptures,  we 
may  add  to  the  above  : — Jacobi 
Eisner,  Ol-servat.  Sacrse  ;  Alberti 
Observ.  Philolog. ;  Lamherti  Bos, 
Exercitat.  Phiiolog.  ;  Lamherti 
Bos,  Animadverso ;  Lvmiberti  Bos, 
Observat.  MiscelL  Fortuita  Sa- 1! 
-era.  These,  together  with  Wol-  jj 
fjus  and  Raphelius,  before  men-  i 
tioned,  says  Dr.  Doddridge,  are 
books  which  I  cannot  but  recom- 
mend to  my  young  friends,  as 
proper  not  only  to  ascertain  the 
sense  of  a  variety  of  v/^rds  and 
phrases  which  occur  in  the  apos- 
tolic writings,  but  also  to  form 
them  to  the  most  useful  method 
of  studying  the  Greek  classics ; 
those  great  masters  of  solid  sense, 
elegant  expression,  just  and  lively 
painting,  and  masculine  eloquence, 
to  the  neglect  of  which  I  cannot 
but  ascribe  that  enervate,  dissolute, 
and  puerile  manner  of  writing 
which  is  growing  so  much  on  the 
present  age,  and  will  probably  con- 
sign so  many  of  its  productions 
to  speedy  oblivion.  See  Bible, 
Scriptures. 

.    COM  MiNATION,  an  office  in 
the  church  of  England  appointed 


to  be  read  on  Ash  Wednesday. 
It  is  substituted  in  the  room  of 
that  godly  discipline  hi  the  primi' 
tive  churchy  by  which  (as  the  in- 
troductibn  to  the  office  expresses 
it)  "  such  persons  as  stood  con- 
victed of  notorious  sins  were  put 
to  open  penance,  and  punished  in 
this  world,  that  their  souls  might 
be  saved  in  the  day  of  the  Lord ; 
and  that  others,  admonished  by 
their  example,  might  be  the  more 
afraid  to  offend."  This  discipline, 
in  atter  ages,  degenerated  in  the 
church  of  Rome  into  a  formal 
confession  of  sins  upon  Ash  Wed- 
nesday, and  the  empty  ceremony 
of  sprinkling  ashes  upon  the  heads 
of  the  people.  Our  reformers 
wisely  r:;jected  this  ceremony  as 
mere  shadow  and  show ;  and  sub- 
stituted this  office  in  its  room, 
which  is  A  denunciation  of  God^s 
anger  and  judgment  against  sin- 
ners ;  that  the  people,  being  ap- 
prised of  God's  wrath  and  indig- 
nation against  their  sins,  might 
not,  through  want  of  discipline  in 
the  church,  be  encouraged  to  fol- 
low and  pursue  them. 

COMMISSARY,  an  officer  of 
the  bishop,  who  exercises  spiritual 
jurisdiction  in  places  of  a  diocess 
so  far  from  the  episcopal  see,  that 
the  chancellor  cannot  call  the  peo- 
ple to  the  bishop's  principal  con- 
sistory court  without  great  incon- 
venience. 

COMMUNICATING, a  term 
made  use  of  to  denote  the  act  of  re- 
ceiving the  Lord's  supper.  Those 
of  the  reformed  and  of  the  Greek 
church  communicate  under  both 
kinds  ;  those  of  the  Romish  only 
under  one.  The  oriental  com- 
municants receive  tlie  species  of 


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wine  by  a  spoon;  and  anciently 
they  sucked  it  through  a  pipe,  as 
has  been  observed  by  Beat  Rhea- 
nUs  bn  TfertuUian. 

COMMUNION,  in  its  strict 
iand  proper  sense,  signifies  holding 
something  in  common  with  anoth- 
er, Acts  ii,  42 — 2.  In  a  more  ge- 
neral sense,  it  denotes  conformity 
or  agreement,  2d  Cor.  vi,  14.  Eph. 
V,  il.— 3.  It  signifies  co?iverse,  or 
friendly  intercourse,  wherein  men 
contrive  or  consult  together  about 
matters  of  common  concern,  Luke 
vi,  11.  Ps.  iv,  4. — 4..  Communion 
is  also  used  for  the  Lord's  supper, 
because  we  herein  make  a  public 
profession  of  our  conformity  to 
Christ  and  his  laws  ;  and  of  our 
agreement  with  other  christians 
in  the  spirit  and  faith  of  the  gos- 
pel.    See  Lord's  Supper. 

The  fourth  council  of  Latefan 
decrees,  that  every  believer  shall 
receive  the  communion,  at  least, 
at  Easter ;  which  seems  to  import 
a  tacit  desire  that  they  should  do 
it  oftener  as  in  effect  they  did  it 
much  oftener  in  the  primitive 
days.  Gratian,  and  the  master  of 
the  sentences,  prescribe  it  as  a  rule 
for  the  laity  to  communicate  three 
times  a  year ;  at  Easter,  Whitsun- 
tide, and  Christmas  :  but  in  the 
thirteenth  century  the  practice 
prevailed  of  never  approaching  the 
eucharist  at  Easter ;  and  the  coun- 
cil thought  fit  to  enjoin  it  then  by 
a  law,  lest  their  coldness  and  re- 
missness should  go  farther  still : 
and  the  council  of  Trent  renewed 
the  same  injunction,  and  re- 
commended frequent  communion, 
without  enforcing  it  by  an  ex- 
press decree.  In  the  ninth  cen- 
kiry  the  communion  was  still  re- 

VoL.  I.  Y 


ceived  by  the  laity  in  both  kinds. 
or  rather  the  species  of  bread  was 
dipped  in  the  wine,  as  is  owned 
by  the  Romanists  themselves.  M. 
de  Marca  observes,  that  they  re- 
ceived it  at  first  in  their  hands  ; 
and  believes  the  communion  un- 
der one  kind  alone  to  have  had 
its  rise  in  the  West,  under  pope 
Urban  II,  in  1096,  at  the  time  of 
the  conquest  of  the  Holy  Land. 
It  was  more  solemnly  enjoined  by 
the  council  of  Constance,  in  1414^ 
The  twenty-eighth  canon  of  the 
council  of  Clermont  enjoins,  the 
communion  to  be  received  under 
both  kinds  distinctly;  adding, how- 
ever, two  exceptions, — the  one  of 
necessity,  the  other  of  caution ; 
the  first  in  favour  of  the  sick,  and 
the  second  of  the  abstemious,  or 
those  who  had  an  aversion  for 
wine.  It  v/as  formerly  a  kind  of 
canonical  punishment  for  clerks 
guilty  of  any  crime  to  be  reduced 
to  lay  communion  ;  i.  e.  only  to 
receive  it  as  the  laity  did,  viz. 
under  one  kind.  They  had  another 
punishment  of  the  same  nature, 
though  under  a  different  name, 
caMedJbrei^?!  commu?iion^io  which 
the  canons  frequently  condemned 
their  bishop's  and  other  clerks. 
This  punishment  was  not  any  ex- 
commvmication  or  deposition,  but. 
a  kind  of  suspension  from  the  func- 
tion of  the  order,  and  a  degrada- 
tion from  the  ranjk  they  held  in  the 
church.  It  had  its  name  because 
the  communion  was  only  grant- 
ed to  the  criminal  on  the  foot 
of  a  foreign  clerk ;  i.  e.  being 
reduced  to  the  lowest  of  his  order, 
he  took  his  place  after  all  those 
of  his  rank,  as  all  clerks,  &(c.,  did 
n  the  churches  K)  which  they  did 


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162 


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loot  belong.  The  second  council 
of  Agda  orders  every  clerk  that 
absents  himself  from  the  church 
to  be  reduced  to  foreign  commu- 
nion. 

Church  communion  is  fellowship 
with  any  particular  church.  See 
CuuRcir  Fexlowship.  It  is 
sometimes  applied  to  different 
churches  united  in  doctrine  and 
discipline.  The  three  grand  com- 
munions into  which  the  christian 
church  is  divided  is  that  of  the 
church  of  Rome,  the  Greek  church 
and  the  Protestant  church  ;  but 
originally  all  christians  were  in 
communion  ^vrith  each  other,  hav- 
ing one  common  faith  and  disci- 
pline. ■ 

Free  co77imiimou,  a  term  made 
use  of  in  relation  to  the  Lord's 
supper,  by  which  it  is  understood 
that  all  those  who  have  been  bap- 
tized, whether  in  infancy  or  adult 
age,  may,  on  profession  of  their 
faith,  sit  do^nl  at  the  Lord's  table 
with  others  of  different  denomina- 
tions.    Some  of  the  Baptists  ob- 
ject to  free  or  mixed  communion, 
and  do  not  allow  of  persons  who 
have  been  baptized  in  their  infan- 
cy to  join  in  the  celebration  of  the 
Lord's   supper  >vith    them ;    be- 
cause they  look  upon  such  as  not 
having  been  baptized  at  all,  and 
consequently  cannot  be  admitted 
to   the  tible.     Others,   however, 
suppose  that  this  ought  to  be  no 
objection  J  and  tliat  such  who  be- 
lieve themselves  t6  bs  reall}-  bap- 
tized (though  in  infancy),  are  par- 
takers of  grace,  belong  to  the  true 
church  of  Christ,  and   are   truly 
devoted  to  God,  ought  .not  to  be 
rejected  en  account  of  a  different 
■opinion  about  a  mere  ordinance. 


Mr.  Killingworth  and  Mr.  Booth 
have  written  against  free  commu- 
nion ;  John  Bunyan,  Dr.  Foster, 
Mr.  Bulkely,  Mr.  Wiche,  and 
Mr.  Robinson,  for  it. 

COMMUNION,  spiritual  or 
divine^  is  that  delightful  fellowship 
and  intercourse  which  a  believer 
enjoys  with  God.     It  is  founded 
upon  union  with  him,  and  consists 
in   a    communication    of    divine 
graces  from  him,  and  a  return  of 
devout  affections  to  him.  The  be- 
liever holds  communion  with  God 
in  his  works,  in  his  word,  and  in 
his  ordinances.     There  can  be  no 
communion  without  likeness,  nor 
withovit  Christ  as  the  mediator. 
Some  distinguish  communion  with 
God  from  the  sense  and  feeling  of 
it ;  that,  is,  that  we  may  hold  com- 
munion with  him  without  raptures 
of  joy ;  and  that  a  saint,  even  un- 
der desertion,  may  have  commu- 
nion with  God  as  really^  though  not 
^o  feelingly^  as  at  any  other  time. 
This  communion  cannot  be  inter- 
rupted by  any  local  mutations  :  it 
is  far  superior  to  all  outward  ser- 
vices and  ordinances  whatsoever  ; 
it  concerns  the  whole  soul,  all  the 
affections,  faculties,  and  motions  of 
it,  being  under  its  influence  :  it  is 
only  imperfect  in  this  life,  and  will 
be  unspeakably  enlarged  in  a  bet- 
ter world. — In  order  to  keep  up 
communion  with  God,  v/e  should 
inform  ourselves  of  his  will,  Jo.  v, 
39.  be  often  in  prayer,  Luke  xviii, 
1 .  embrace  opportunities  of  retire- 
ment, Ps.  iv,  4.  contemplate  on 
the     divine     perfections,     provi- 
dences, and  promises,  Ps.  civ,  34. 
watch  against  a  vain,  trifling,  and 
volatile  spirit,  Epb.  ir,  30.  and  be 
found  in  the  use  of  all  the  mean*. 


C  OM 


163 


CON 


of  grace,  Ps.  xxvii,4.  The  advan- 
tages of  communion  with  God  are, 
deadness  to  the  world,  Phil,  iii,  8. 
patience  under  trouble.  Job  i,  22. 
fortitude  in  danger,  Ps.  xxvii,  1 . 
gratitude  for  mercies  received, 
Ps.  ciii,  1.  direction  under  diffi- 
culties, Prov.  iii,  5,  6.  peace  and 
joy  in  opposition,  Ps.  xvi,  22.  hap- 
piness in  death,  Ps.  xxiii,  4.  and 
an  earnest  desire  for  heaven  and 
glory,  2d  Tim.  iv,  7,  8.  See  Shawns 
Immanuel ;  Owen  and  Henry  on 
Communion;  and  article  Fellow- 

2HIP. 

COMPASSION  is  that  species 

of  affection  which  is  excited  either 
by  the  actual  distress  of  its  object, 
or  by  some  impending  calamity 
which  appears  inevitable.  It  is  a 
benevolent  sorrow  for  the  suffer- 
ings or  approaching  misery  of  an- 
other. The  etymology  of  the 
■  word  expresses  this  idea  with  strict 
propriety,  as  it  signifies  suffering 
■with  the  object,  Hobbs  makes  this 
a  mere  selfish  passion,  and  defines 
it  as  *'  being  fear  for  ourselves." 
Hutchinson  resolves  it  into  in- 
stinct J  but  Dr.  Butler  much  more 
properly  considers  it  as  an  original 
distinct  particular  affection  in  hu- 
man nature.  It  may  be  consider- 
ed as  a  generic  name,  compre- 
hending several  other  affections ;  as 
mercy ^  commiseration^  pity.  This 
affection  (as  well  as  every  other  of 
our  nature),  no  doubt,  was  wisely 
given  us  by  our  Creator.  "  Ideas 
pf  fitness"  as  Saurin  observes, 
"  seldom  make  much  impression 
on  the  bulk  of  mankind ;  it  was 
was  necessary  therefore  to  make 
sensibility  supply  the  want  of 
reflection  ;  and  by  a  counter-blow 
with  which  the  miseries  of  a  neigh- 


bour strike  our  feelings,  to  pro- 
duce a  disposition  in  us  to  relieve 
him." 

COMPASSION  OF  GOD  is 
the  infinite  greatness  of  his  mercy 
and  love,  whereby  he  relieves  the 
miseries  of  his  people.  This  per- 
fection of  Jehovah  is  conspicuously 
displayed  in  the  gift  of  his  Son, 
Jo,  iii.  16.  the  revelation  of  his 
will,  Hos.  viii,  12.  the  bounties  of 
his  providence,  Ps.  cxlv,  9-  the 
exercise  of  his  patience,  Rom.  ii,  4. 
the  promise  of  his  mercy,  Ps. 
lxxviii,38.  the  manifestation  of  his 
presence,  Matt,  xviii,  20.  and  the 
provision  of  eternal  glory,  1st  Pet, 
i,  4.     See  Mercy. 

COMPLUTENSIAN    BI^ 
BLE.     See  Bible,  No.  29. 

COMPREHENSION,inEng- 
lish  church  history,  denotes  a 
scheme  proposed  by  Sir  Orlando 
Bridgman,  in  1667-8,  for  relaxing 
the  terms  of  conformity  on  behalf 
of  the  Protestant  Dissenters,  and 
admitting  them  into  the  commu- 
nion of  the  church.  A  bill  for 
this  purpose  was  drawn  up  by 
Judge  Hale,  but  disallowed.  The 
attempt  v/as  renewed  by  Tillotson 
and  Stillingfleet,  in  1674,  and  the 
terms  were  settled  to  the  siitisfac- 
tion  of  the  non-conformists ;  but 
the  bishops  refused  their  assent. 
The  scheme  was  likewise  revived 
again  immediately  after  the  revo- 
lution. The  king  and  queen  ex- 
pressed their  desire  of  an  union; 
however,  the  design  failed,  after 
two  attempts,  and  the  act  of  to- 
leration was  obtained. 

CONCEPTIONOFCHRIST, 
the  supernatural  and  miraculous 
formation  of  the  human  nature  of 
Jesus  Christ.     "  It  were  not  dif- 


CON 


164 


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^cult  to  shew,"  says  a  divine, "  that 
the  miraculous  conception,    once 
admitted,  naturally  brings  up  after 
it  the  great  doctrines  of  the  atone- 
ment and  the  incarnation.     The 
miraculous  conception  of  our  Lord 
evidently    implies    some     higher 
purpose -of  his   coming  than  the 
mere  business  of  a  teacher.     The 
business  of  a  teacher  might  have 
been  performed  by  a  mere  man, 
enlightened  by  the  prophetic  spirit. 
For  whatever  instruction  men  have 
the    capacity  to   receive,    a   man 
Tnight  have  been  made  the  instru-. 
ment  to  convey.     Had  teaching, 
therefore,  been  the  sole  purpose  of 
our  Saviour's  coming,  a  mere  man 
might  have  done  the  whole  busi- 
ness,  and  the    supernatural  con- 
ception had  been  an  unnecessary 
miracle.  He,  therefore,  who  came 
in  this  miraculous  way,  came  upon 
isome  higher  business,  to  which  a 
mere  man  was  unequal.    He  came 
to  be  made  a  sin-ofiering  for  us, 
that  we  might  be  made  the  rights 
eousness  of  God  in  him."     See 
bp.  Horsley's  Tracts,  and  article 
Humanity  of  Christ. 

CONCEPTION  IMMACU- 
LATE of  the  Holy  Virgin^  is  a 
popish  festival  established  in  Iiot 
hour  of  the  Virgin  Mary,  on  the 
supposition  of   hei'  having   been 
conceived,  and  born  immaculate, 
4.  e.  v/ithout  original  sin  :  held  on 
the  8th  of  December,  The  im.ma- 
culate  conception  is  the  great  head 
of  controversy  between  the  Scotists 
and  Thomists  ;  the  former  main- 
■  taining  and  the  latter  impugning  it. 
Peter  d' Alva  has  published48huge 
folio  volumes  on  the  mysteries  of 
the  conception. 

CONCLAVE,  the  assembly  or 


meeting  of  the  cardinals  shut  up 
for  the  election  of  a  pope.     Con- 
clave  also    signifies   the  place   in 
which  the  cardinals  of  the  Romish 
chuixh  meet  for  the  above-men- 
tioned   purpose.       The    conclave 
is  a  range  of  small  cells,  ten  feet 
square,  made  of  wainscot :   these 
are  numbered,  and  drawn  by  lot. 
They  stand  in  a  line  along  the  gal- 
leries and  hall  of  the  Vatican,  with 
a  small  space  between  each.  Eve- 
ry cell  has  the  arms  of  the  cardi- 
nal over  it.     The  conclave  is  not 
fixed  to  any  one  determinate  place, 
for  the  constitutions  of  the  church 
allow  the  cardinals  to  make  choice 
of  such  a  place  for  the  conclave 
as   they  think    most  convenient : 
yet   it   is   generally   held    in   the 
Vatican- — The    conclave    is   very 
strictly  guarded  by  troops  :  neither 
the  cardinals,  nor  any  person  shut 
up  in  the  conclave,  are  spoken  to, 
but  at  the  hours  allowed  of,  and 
then  in    Italian   or   Latin :    even 
the    provisions   for   the   conclave 
are    examined,    that    no    letters 
be  conveyed  by  that  means  from 
the  ministei's   of  foreign  powers, 
or  other  persons,  who  may  have 
an  interest  in  the  election  of  the 
pontiff. 

CONCORD, /cjrm  0/— Form 
of  concord,  in  ecclesiastical  histo- 
ry, a  standard-book  among  the  Lu- 
therans, composed  at  Torgaw  in 
1576,  and  thence  called  the  book 
of  Torgaw,  and  reviewed  at  Berg 
by  six  Lutheran  doctors  of  Ger- 
many, the  principal  of  whom  was 
James  Andrese.  This  book  con- 
tains, in  two  parts,  a  system  of 
doctrine,  the  subscription  of  which 
was  a  condition  of  communion, 
and    a    formal    and  very  severe 


COK 


165 


CON 


condemnation  of  all  who  differed 
from  the  compilers  of  it ;  particu- 
larly with  respect  to  the  majesty 
and  omnipresence  of  Christ's  body, 
and  the  real  manducation  of  his 
flesh  and  blood  in  the  eucharist. 
It  ^as  first  imposed  upon  the 
Saxons  by  Augustus,  and  occa- 
sioned great  opposition  and  dis- 
turbance. The  dispute  about  it 
was  revived  in  Switzerland  in 
1718,  when  the  magistrates  of 
Bern  published  an  order  for  adopt- 
ing it  as  the  rule  of  faith ;  the 
consequence  of  which  was  a  con- 
test that  reduced  its  credit  and 
authority. 

CONCORDANCE,  a  diction- 
ary or  index  to  the  Bible,  wherein 
all  the  leading  words   are  rang- 
ed alphabetically,  and  the  books, 
chapters,  and  verses  wherein  they 
occur  referred  to,  to  assist  in  find- 
ing out  passages,  and  comparing 
with  the  several  significations  of 
the  same  word.     Cardinal  Hugo 
de  St.  Charo  seems  to  have  been 
the   first    who    compiled   a    con- 
cordance to  the  holy  scriptures  ; 
and  for  carrying  on  thig  work,  it 
is  said,  he  employed  500  monks 
to  assist  him.      Rabbi  Mordecai 
Nathan  published  a  Hebrew  con- 
cordance,   printed   at   Venice    in 
1523,  containing  all  the  Hebrew 
roots,  branched  into  their  various 
significations,  and  under  each  sig- 
nification all  the  places  in  scrip- 
ture wherein  it  occurs  ;   but  the 
best  and  most  useful  Hebrew  con- 
cordance is  that  of  Buxtorf,  print- 
ed at  Basil  in   1632.      Calasius, 
an   Italian    cordelier,    has    given 
us  concordances  of  the  Hebrew, 
Latin,  and  Greek,  in  two  columns  : 
the  first,  which  is  Hebrew,  is  that 


of  rabbi  Mordecai  Nathan  ver- 
batim, and  according  to  the  order 
of  the  books  and  chapters  :  in  the 
other  column  is  a  Latin  interpre- 
tation of  each  passage  of  scripture 
quoted  by  R.  Mordecai :  this  in- 
terpretation is  Calasius'sown;  but 
in  the  margin  he  adds  that  of  the 
LXX  and  the  Vulgate,  when  dif- 
ferent from  his.  The  work  is  in 
4  vol.  folio,  printed  at  Rome  in 
1621.  A  new  edition  of  this 
work  was  published  by  subscrip- 
tion in  London,  in  1747',  8,  9,  br 
Mr.  Romaine,  to  which  he  ob- 
tained the  signature  of  every 
crowned  head  in  Europe,  his 
Holiness  not  excepted.  Dr.  Tay- 
lor published,  in  1 754,  a  Hebrew 
concordance,  in  2  vol.  folio,  adapt- 
ed to  the  English  Bible,  and  dis- 
posed after  the  same  manner  as 
Buxtorf.  This  is  perhaps  the  best 
for  English  readers. 

The  Greek  concordances  are 
only  for  the  New  Testament,  ex- 
cept one  by  Conrad  Kircher  on 
on  the  Old,  containing  all  the  He- 
brew words  in  alphabetical  or- 
der ;  and  underneath,  all  the  in- 
terpretations of  them  in  the  LXX, 
and  in  each  interpretation  all  the 
places  where  they  occur  in  that 
version.  In  171i8,  Trommius 
published  his  Greek  concordance 
for  the  LXX,  at  Amsterdam,  in 
2  vol.  folio  ;  and  Schmidius,  im-  ' 
proving  on  a  similar  work  of  H. 
Stephen,  has  given  an  excellent 
Greek  concordance  for  the  New 
Testament,  the  best  edition  of 
which  is  that  of  Leipsic,  anno 
1717.  Williams's  concordance 
to  the  Greek  Testament  gives  the 
English  vei"sion  to  each  word,  and 
points  out  the  principal  Hebrew 


CON 


166 


CON 


roots  corresponding  to  the  Greek 
words  of  the  Septuagint,  4to, 
176/.  We  have  several  concord- 
ances in  English,  as  Fisher's,  But- 
terworth's,  Newman's,  Brown's  j 
but  the  best  esteemed  is  that  in 
4to,  by  Alexander  Cruden,  which 
no  minister  or  student  should 
be  without,  except  he  have  such 
a  prodigious  memory  as  to  su- 
persede the  necessity  of  it.  Crutt- 
well's  Concordance  of  Parallels 
^may  also  be  consulted  with  pro- 
fit :  Talbot's  complete  Analysis, 
and  new  Arrangement  of  the 
Bible  ;  Dodd  and  Locke's  Com- 
mon-place Books  ;  with  Clark  on 
the  Promises,  and  Gastrin's  In- 
stitutes, may  also  be  useful  to 
preachers. 

CONCUBINAGE,  the  act  of 
living  with  a  woman  to  whom  the 
man  is  not  legally  married.  It  is 
also  used  for  a  marriage  with  a 
Woman  of  inferior  condition  (per- 
formed with  less  solemnity  than 
the  formal  marriage),  and  to  whom 
the  husband  does  not  convey  his 
rank.  As  polygamy  was  some- 
times practised  by  the  patriarchs, 
it  was  a  common  thing  to  see  one, 
two,  or  many  v/ives  in  a  family, 
and  besides  these  several  concu- 
bines, 2d  Sam.  iii.  3,  &c.  1st  Kings 
xi,  3.  2d  Chron.  xi,  21  ;  but  ever 
since  the  abrogation  of  polygamy 
by  Jesus  Christ,  and  the  reduction 
of  marriage  to  its  primitive  insti- 
tution, concubinage  has  been  for- 
bidden and  condemned  among 
christians. 

CONDESCENSION  is  that 
species  of  benevolence  w'hich  de- 
signedly waves  the  supposed  ad- 
vantages of  birth,  title,  or  station, 
in  order  to  accommodate  ourselves 


to  the  state  of  an  inferior,  and  di= 
minish  that  restraint  which  the  ap- 
parent distance  is  calculated  to  pro- 
duce in  him.  It  is  enjoined  on  the  • 
christian,  and  is  peculiarly  orna- 
mental to  the  christian  character, 
Rom.  xii,  16.  The  condescension 
of  God  appears  every  way  great, 
when  we  consider  his  infinite  per- 
fection, hio  absolute  independence 
of  his  creatures,  his  purposes  of 
mercy  toward  them,  and  his  con- 
tinual care  over  them. 

CONDITION,  atermof  a  bar- 
gain to  be  performed.  It  has  been 
debated  whether  faith  should  be 
called  the  cow^iitzonof  our  salvation.. 
If  by  it  we  mean  a  valuable  equi- 
valeiit  for  the  benefit  received,  or 
something  to  be  performed  in  our 
own  strength,  or  that  will  be  meri- 
torious, it  is  certainly  inapplica- 
ble ;  but  if  by  it  be  meant,  that 
it  is  only  a  mean,  without  which 
we  cannot  be  saved,  in  that  sense 
it  is  not  improper.  Yet  as  the 
term  is  often  made  use  of  impro- 
perly by  those  who  are  mere  le- 
galists, perhaps  it  would  be  as  well 
to  decline  the  use  of  it. 

CONFERENCE,  the  act  of 
discoursing  with  another  in  order 
to  treat  upon  some  subject,  or  to 
settle  some  point  of  dispute.  C'o7i- 
ference  Meetings^  in  a  religious 
sense,  are  meetings  assembled  for 
the  purpose  of  relating  experience, 
discoursing  on  some  religious  sub- 
ject, or  for  transacting  religious 
business.  "  Religious  conference," 
says  a  divine,  "  is  one  way  of 
teaching  religion.  We  alt  have 
leisure  time,  and  it  is  well  spent 
when  it  is  employed  in  set  con- 
ferences on  religion.  There  the 
doubting  man  may  open  all  his 


CON 


167 


COK 


suspicions,  and  confirmed  chris- 
tians will  strengthen  his  belief; 
there  the  fearful  may  learn  to  be 
valiant  for  the  truth  ;  there  the 
liberal  may  learn  to  devise  liberal 
things  ;  there  the  tongue  of  the 
stammerer  may  learn  to  speak 
plainly ;  there  Paul  may  withstand 
Peter  to  the  face,  because  he  de- 
serves to  be  blamed ;  there  the 
gospel  may  be  communicated  se- 
verally to  them  of  reputation ; 
there,  in  one  word,  ye  may  ail 
prophesy  one  by  one,  that  all 
may  learn,  and  all  may  be  com- 
forted. One  hour  in  a  week  spent 
thus  will  contribute  much  to  our 
edification,  provided  we  abstain 
from  the  disorders  that  have  often 
disgraced,  and  sometimes  destroy- 
ed, this  excellent  christian  prac- 
tice. Time  should  be  kept,  order 
should  be  preserved,  no  idle  ques- 
tions should  be  asked  ;  freedom  of 
inquiry  should  be  nourished  ;  im- 
modest forwardness  should  be  re- 
strained ;  practical,  experimental, 
and  substantial  subjects  should  be 
examined ;  Charity  with  all  its 
gentle  train  should  be  there,  for 
she  openeth  her  mouth  with  wis- 
dom, and  in  her  tongue  is  the  law 
of  kindness."  See  Experience 
Meetings. 

CONFESSION,  the  verbal  ac- 
knowledgment which  a  christian 
makes  of  his  sins.  Among  the 
Jews,  it  was  the  custom,  on  the 
annual  feast  of  expiation,  for  the 
high  priest  to  make  confession  of 
sins  to  God,  in  the  name  of  the 
whole  people  :  besides  this  general 
confession,theJev/s  were  enjoined, 
if  their  sins  were  a  breach  of  the 
first  table  of  the  law,  to  make 
confession  of  them  to  God  :  but 


violations  of  the  second  table  were 
to  be  acknowledged  to  their 
brethren.  Confession,  according 
to  Dr.  Watts,  is  the  third  part  of 
prayer,  and  includes,  !.•  A  con- 
fession of  the  meanness  of  our 
original,  our  distance  from  God, 
our  subjection  to  him,  and  con- 
stant depaiidance  on  him. — 2.  A 
confession  of  our  sins,  both  original 
and  actual,  in  thought,  life,  omis- 
sion, and  commission. — 3.  A  con- 
fession of  our  desert  of  punish- 
ment, and  our  unworthiness  of 
mercy. — 4.  A  confession  or  hum- 
ble representation  of  our  wants 
and  sorrows  of  every  kind.  Con- 
fession also  may  be  considered  as 
a  relative  duty,  or  the  acknow- 
ledgment of  any  offence  we  have 
been  guilty  of  against  a  fellow- 
creature.  The  Romish  church 
requires  confession  not  only  as  a 
duty,  but  has  advanced  it  to  the 
dignity  of  a  sacrament.  These  con- 
fessions are  made  to  the  priest,  and 
are  private  and  auricular  ;  and  the 
priest  is  not  to  reveal  them  under 
pain  of  the  highest  punishment. 
This,  however,  is  both  unneces- 
sary and  unscriptural ;  for,  in  the 
first  place,  there  is  no  proof  that 
the  power  of  remitting  and  re- 
taining sins  (the  pretended  ground 
of  sacramental  confession)  was 
imparted  to  any  but  the  apostles, 
or  at  the  most  to  those  to  whom 
a  discernment  of  spirits  was  com- 
municated.— 2.  If  our  Saviour 
had  designed  this  to  have  been  a 
duty,  he  would  most  probably 
have  delivered  us  an  express  com- 
mand to  this  purpose — 3.  This 
authority  of  pardoning  sins  im- 
mediately in.  relation  to  God  (the 
foundation  of  the  pretended  duty 


CON 


168 


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of  secret  confession),  without  any 
reference  to  church  censures,  was 
never  claimed  for  many  ages  after 
Christ. 

Notwifhstauding,  however,  pri- 
vate auricular  confession  is  not  of 
divine  authority,  yet,  as  one  ob- 
serves, "  there  are  many  cases 
wherein  men  under  the  guilt  and 
trouble  of  their  sins  can  neither 
appease  their  own  minds,  nor  suf- 
ficiently direct  themselves  with- 
©ut  recourse,  to  some  pious  and 
prudent  guide  :  in  these  cases  men 
certainly  do  very  well,  and  many 
times  prevent  a  great  deal  of 
urouble  and  perplexity  to  them- 
selves by  a  timely  discovery  of 
their  condition  to  some  faithful 
minister ;  and  to  tliis  purpose  a 
general  confession  is  for  the  most 
part  sumcient ;  and  where  there 
is  occasion  for  a  more  particular 
discovery,  there  is  no  need  of  rak- 
ing into  the  particular  circum- 
stances of  men's  sins  to  give  that 
advice  which  is  necessary  for  the 
ease  and  comfort  of  the  penitent." 
See  Absolution;  Watts  on  Pray- 
er ;  Tillotsoii's  Ser,^  ser.  160, 
161/  Simtli^s  Errors  of  the  Church 
of  Rome, 

CONFESSION  OF  FAITH, 
a  list  of  the  several  articles  of  the 
belief  of  any  church.  Objections 
have  been  formed  against  all 
creeds  or  confessions  of  faith,  as 
it  is  said  they  infringe  christian 
liberty,  supersede  the  scriptures, 
exclude  such  as  ought  not  to 
be  excluded,  and  admit  such 
as  ought  not  to  be  admitted ; 
are  often  too  particular,  and  long ; 
i:rc  liable  to  be  abused ;  tempt 
men  to  hypocrisy  ;  preclude  im- 
j^-ovcnient ;    and  bdvc   been  em- 


ployed as  means  of  persecii-* 
tion.  On  the  other  hand,  the 
advocates  for  them  observe,  that 
all  arts  and  sciences  have  been 
reduced  to  a  system  ;  and  why 
should  not  the  truths  of  reli- 
gion, which  are  of  greater  im- 
portance ?  That  a  compendious 
vicAV  of  the  chief  and  most  neces- 
sary points  of  the  christian  reli- 
gion, whicli  lie  scattered  up  and 
down  in  the  scripture,  must  be 
useful  to  inform  the  mind,  as  well 
also  to  hold  forth  to  the  world 
what  are  in  general  the  sentiments 
of  such  a  particular  church  or 
churches ;  they  tend  to  discover 
the  common  friends  of  the  same 
faith  to  one  another,  and  to  unite 
them  ;  that  the  scriptures  seem  to 
authorize  and  countenance  them  ; 
such  as  the  moral  law,  the  Lord's 
prayer,  the  form  of  doctrine  men- 
tioned by  Paul,  Rom.  vi,  17 ;  and 
again,  "  the  form  of  sound  words," 
in  2d  Tim.  i,  13,  Sec.  ;  that  their 
becoming  the  occasion  of  hypo- 
crisy is  no  fault  of  the  articles, 
but  of  those  who  subscribe  them  ; 
that  persecution  has  been  rais- 
ed more  by  the  turbulent  tem- 
pers of  men  than  from  the  nature 
of  confessions.  Some  think  that 
all  articles  and  confessions  of 
faith  should  be  expressed  in  the 
bare  words  of  scripture  ;  but  it  is 
replied,  that  this  would  destroy  all 
exposition  and  interpretation  of 
scripture  ;  that  it  would  have  a 
tendency  to  make  the  ministry  of 
the  word  useless  ;  in  a  great  mea- 
sure cramp  all  religious  conver- 
sation ;  and  that  the  sentiments  of 
one  man  could  not  be  distinguish- 
ed from  another  in  some  points 
of  importance.-     Some  of  thenvost 


CON 


169 


CON 


noted  confessions  are,  the  39  ar- 
ticles^ and  the  constitutions  and 
canons  of  the  church  of  England; 
the  Westmijister  Assembly's  Con- 
fession of  Faith  ;  the  Savoy  Con- 
fession^ or  a  declaration  of  the  faith 
and  order  owned  and  practised  i7i 
the  congregational  churches  in 
England,  See  also  Corpus  et  Syn- 
tagma confessionum  fdei^  qU(Z  in 
diversis  regnis  et  nationibus  eccle- 
siariim  nomine^  fuerunt  autheJitice 
edit>t\y  which  exhibits  a  body  of 
numerous  confessions.  See  like- 
wise, An  Harmony  of  the  Confes- 
sions of  Faith  of  the  Christian  and 
Reformed  Churches;  Watts' s  Ra- 
tional Foundation  of  a  Christian 
Churchy  qu.  8 ;  Graham  on  Esta- 
blishments^ p.  265,  &c. 

CONFESSOR,a  christian  who 
has  made  a  solemn  and  resolute 
profession  of  the  faith,  and  has  en- 
dured torments  in  its  defence. 
A  mere  saint  is  called  a  confessor, 
to  distinguish  him  from  the  roll  of 
dignified  saints,  such  as  apostles, 
martyrs,  &c.  In  ecclesiastical  his- 
tory, the  word  confessor  is  some- 
times used  for  martyr;  in  after 
times  it  was  confined  to  those 
who,  after  having  been  tormented 
by  the  tyrants,  were  permitted  to 
live  and  die  in  peace  ;  and  at  last 
it  was  also  used  for  those  who, 
after  having  lived  a  good  life,  died 
under  an  opinion  of  sanctity.  Ac- 
cording to  St.  Cyprian,  he  who 
presented  himself  to  torture,  or 
even  to  martyrdom,  without  be- 
ing called  to  it,  was  not  called 
a  confessor^  but  &.  professsor  ;  and 
if  any  out  of  want  of  courage  aban- 
doned his  countiy,  and  became 
a  voluntary  exile  for  the  sake  of 
the  faith,  he  was  called  ex  terris. 

Vol.  I.  Z 


Confessor  is  also  a  priest  in  the 
Romish  church,  who  has  a  pov/er 
to  hear  sinners  in  the  sacrament 
of  penance,  and  to  give  them  ab- 
solution. The  confessors  of  the 
kings  of  France,  from  the  time  of 
Henry  IV,  have  been  constantly 
Jesuits  ;  before  him,  the  Domini- 
cans and  Cordeliers  shared  the 
office  between  them.  The  con- 
fessors of  the  house  of  Austria 
have  also  ordinarily  been  Domini- 
cans and  Cordeliers,  but  the  latter 
emperors  have  all  taken  Jesuits. 

CONFIRMATION,  the  act 
of  establishing  any  thing  or  per- 
son.— 1.  Divine  confirmation  is  a 
work  of  the  Spirit  of  God,  strength- 
ening, comforting,  and  establish- 
ing believers  in  faith  and  obedi- 
ence, 1st  Pet.  V,  10.  1st  Cor.  i, 
8. — 2.  Ecclesiastical  confirmation 
is  a  rite  whereby  a  person,  arrived 
to  years  of  discretion,  under- 
takes the  performance  of  every 
part  of  the  baptismal  vow  made  for 
him  by  his  godfathers  and  godmo- 
thers. 

In  the  primitive  church  it  was 
done  immediately  after  baptism,  if 
the  bishop  happened  to  be  pre- 
sent at  the  solemnity.  Throughout 
the  East  it  still  accompanies  bap- 
tism ;  but  the  Romanists  make  it 
a  distinct  independent  sacrament. 
Seven  years  is  the  stated  time  for 
confirmation;  however,  they  are 
sometimes  confirmed  before  and 
sometimes  after  that  age.  The  per- 
son to  be  confirmed  has  a  godfather 
and  godmother  appointed  him,  as 
in  baptism.  In  the  church  of  Eng- 
land, the  age  of  the  persons  to  be 
confirmed  is  not  fixed.  Clarke'' s  Es- 
say on  Confirmation  ;  Wood  on  dit- 
to; Howe'^s  Episcopacy^  p.  167,  l/'4. 


CON 


170 


CON 


CONFLAGRATION  GE- 
NERAL, a  term  used  to  de- 
note that  grand  period  or  catas- 
trophe of  our  world,  when  the 
face  of  nature  is  to  be  chang- 
ed by  fil-e,  a§  formerly  it  was  by 
water. 

1.  Scripture  assures  us  in  the 
general,  that  this  earth  in  its  pre- 
sent form  Vv'^ill  not  be  perpetual, 
but  shall  come  to  an  end. — 2.  It 
farther  tells  us,  that  this  dissolu- 
tion of  the  world  shall  be  by  a  ge- 
neral conflagration,  in  which  all 
things  upon  the  face  of  the  earth 
shall  be  destroyed,  by  which  the 
atmosphere  shall  also  be  sensibly 
affected,  as  in  such  a  case  it  ne- 
cessarily must  be,  2d  Pet.  iii,  5-7^ 
10, 12.  where,  from  the  connexion 
of  the  Avords,  the  opposition  be- 
tween the  conflagration  and  the 
deluge,  as  well  as  the  most  lite- 
ral and  apparent  import  of  the 
phrases  themselves,  it  is  plain  they 
cannot,  as  Dr.  Hammond  strange- 
ly supposes,  refer  to  the  desola- 
tion brought  on  Judea  v/hen  de- 
stroyed by  the  Ilomans,  but  must 
refer  to  the  dissolution  of  the  whole 
earth. 3.  The  scripture  repre- 
sents this  great  burning  as  a  cir- 
cumstance nearly  connected  with 
the  day  of  judgment,  2d  Pet.  iii. 

7,  compared  with  2d  Thess.  i.  7, 

8.  Heb.  X,  27.  1  Cor.  iii.  12,  13  ; 
and  it  is  probable  there  may  be  an 
allusion  to  this  in  several  passages 
of  the  Old  Testament,  such  as  Ps. 
xi,  6.  JPs,  1,  3.  Ps.  xcvii,  3.  Isa. 
xxxiy,  4.  8-ip.  Isa.  Ixvi,  15.  Dan. 
vii,  9,  10.  Mal.  iv.  1.  Zeph-  iii, 
g.  Deut.  xxxii.  22,  to  which  many 
parallel  expressions  might  be  ad- 
ded, from  the  canonical  and  apo- 
gryphal  books.— -4.lt  is  not  express- 


ly declared  how  this  burning  shall 
be  kindled,  nor  how  it  shall  end  ; 
which  has  given  occasion  to  vari- 
ous conjectures  about  it,  which  see 
below. 

The  ancient  Pythagoreans,  Pla- 
tonists.  Epicureans,  and  Stoics, 
appear  to  have  had  a  notion  of  the 
conflagration  ;  though  whence  they 
should  derive  it,  unless  from  the 
sacred  books,  is  difficult  to  con- 
ceive ;  except,  perhaps,  from  the 
Phcenicians,  who  themselves  had 
it  from  the  Jews.  Mention  of  the 
conflagration  is  made  in  the  books 
of  the  Sibyls,  Sophocles,  Hystas- 
pes,  Ovid,  Lucan,  &c.  Dr.  Burnet, 
after  J.  T^^chard  and  others,  re- 
lates that  the  Siamese  believe  that 
the  earth  will  at  last  bp  parched  up 
with  heat  J  the  mountains  melted 
down,  the  earth's  whole  surface 
reduced  to  a  level,  and  then  con- 
sumed with  fire.  And  the  Bramins 
of  Siam  do  not  only  hold  that  the 
world  shall  be  destroyed  by  fire, 
but  also  that  a  new  earth  shall  be 
made  out  of  the  cinders  of  the 
old. 

Divmes  ordinarily  account  for 
the  conflagration  metaphysically, 
and  will  have  it  take  its  rise  from 
a  miracle,  as  a  fire  from  heaven. 
Philosophers  contend  for  its  be- 
ing produced  from  natural  causes, 
and  will  have  it  effected  accord- 
ing to  the  laws  of  mechanics. 
Some  think  an  eruption  of  the 
central  fire  sufficient  for  the  pur- 
pose ;  and  add,  that  this  may  be 
occasioned  several  ways,  viz.  ei- 
ther by  having  its  intension  in- 
creased, which  again  may  be  ef- 
fected either  by  being  driven  in- 
to less  space  by  the  encroachments 
of  the  superficial  cold,  or  by  an  in- 


CON 


171 


CON 


crease  of  the  inflammability  of  the 
fuel  whereon  it  is  fed  ;  or  by  hav- 
ing the  resistance  of  the  imprison- 
ing earth  weakened,  which  may 
happen  either  from  the  diminution 
of  its  matter,  by  the  consumption 
of  its  central  parts,  or  by  weaken- 
ing the  cohesion  of  the  constitu- 
ent parts  of  the  mass  by  the  excess 
of  the  defect  of  moisture.  Others 
look  for  the  cause  of  the  con- 
flaigration  in  the  atmosphere,  and 
suppose  that  some  of  the  meteors 
there  engendered  in  unusual  quan- 
tities, and  exploded  with  unusual 
Vehemence,  from  the  concurrence 
of  various  circumstances  naay  ef- 
fect it  without  seeking  any  far- 
ther.— Lastly,  others  have  re- 
course to  a  still  more  effectual 
and  flaming  machine,  and  con- 
clude the  world  is  to  undergo  its 
conflagration  from  the  near  ap- 
proach of  a  comet  in  its  return 
from  the  sun. 

Various  opinions  also  are  en- 
tertained as  to  the  renovation  of 
the  earth  after  the  conflagration.—- 
1.  Some  suppose  that  the  earth 
will  not  be  entirely  consumed,  but 
that  the  matter  of  which  it  consists 
will  be  fixed,  purified,  and  refined, 
which  they  say  will  be  the  natural 
consequence  of  the  action,  of  fire 
upon  it ;  though  it  is  hard  to 
say  what  such  a  purification  can 
do  towards  fitting  it  for  its  in- 
tended purpose,  for  it  is  certain  a 
mass  of  crystal  or  glass  Vi^ould  very 
ill  answer  the  following  parts 
of  this  hypothesis. — 2.  They 
suppose  that  from  these  mate- 
rials thus  refined,  as  from  a  se- 
cond chaos,  there  will  by  the 
power  of  God  arise  a  new  crea- 
tion :  and   then  the    face   of  the 


earth,  and  likewise  the  atmos- 
phere, will  then  be  so  restored, 
as  to  resemble  what  it  originally 
was  in  the  paradisaical  state  ;  and 
consequently  to  render  it  a  more 
desirable  abode  for  hurhari  cf-ea- 
tures  than  it  at  present  is :  and 
they  urge  for  this  purpose  the  fol- 
lowing texts,  viz.  2d  Pet.  iii,  13. 
(compare  Is.  Ixv,  17.  Ixvi,  22.) 
Matt,  xix,  28,  29.  (compare 
Mark  x,  29,  30.  Luke  xviii,  29, 
30.)  Ps.  cii,  25,  26.  Acts  iii,  21. 
1st  Cor.  vii,  31.  Rom.  viii,  21. — 

3.  They  agree  in  supposing,  that 
in  this  nev/  state  of  things  there 
will  be  no  sea.  Rev.  xxi,  1^—4. 
They  suppose  that  the  earth,  thus 
beautified  and  improved,  shall  be 
inhabited  by  those  who  shall  in- 
herit the  first  resurrection,  and 
shall  here  enjoy  a  very  consider- 
able degree  of  happiness,  though 
not  equal  to  that  which  is  to  suc- 
ceed the  gehefal  judgment ;  which 
judgment  shall,  according  to  them, 
open  when  those  thousand  years 
are  expired,  mentioned  in  Rev,  xx, 

4,  &c.  IstThess.  iv,  17,  compare 
ver.  15,  which  passage  is  thought 
by  some  to  contain  an  insinuation, 
that  Paul  expected  to  be  alive  at 
the  appearance  of  Christ,  which 
must  imply  an  expectation  of  being 
thus  raised  from  the  dead  be- 
fore it :  but  it  is  answered  that 
the  expression  rue  that  are  alive 
may  only  signify,  "  that  of  us  that 
are  so,"  speaking  of  all  christians 
as  one  body,  1st  Cor.  xv,  49-52. 
Dr.  Hartley  declared  it  as  his 
opinion,  that  the  millennium  will 
consist  of  a  thousand  prophetical 
years  vdiere  each  day  is  a  year, 
i.  e.  360000  ;  pleading  that  this  is 
the  language  used  in  olher  pj^rts 


CON 


172 


CON 


of  the  Revelation.  But  it  seems 
an  invincible  objection  against  this 
hypothesis,  which  places  the  mil- 
lennium after  the  conflagration, 
that  the  saints  inhabiting  the  earth 
after  the  first  resurrection  are  re- 
presented as  distressed  by  the  in- 
vasion of  some  wicked  enemies, 
Rev.  XX,  7-9.  Ezekiel  xxxviii, 
xxxix.     See  Millennium. 

After  all,  little  can  be  said  with 
certainty  as  to  this  subject.  It  is 
probable  that  the  earth  will  sur- 
vive its  fiery  trial,  and  become  the 
everlasting  abode  of  righteousness, 
as  part  of  the  holy  empire  of  God  ; 
but,  seeing  the  language  used  in 
scripture,  and  especially  in  the 
book  of  Revelation,  is  often  to 
be  considered  as  figurative  ra- 
ther than  literal,  it  becomes  us  to 
be  cautious  in  our  conclusions. 
Burnet's  Theory  of  the  Earth; 
Whitby  on  the  Mil/ennium  ;  Hartley 
on  Man^  vol.  ii,  p.  400 ;  Flerning 
on  the  first  Resurrection  ;  Rafs 
three  Discourses  ;  Whistor^s  Theory 
of  the  Earth  ;  and  article  Disso- 
LtJTjON  in  this  Work. 

CONFUSION  OF  TONGUES, 
a  memorable  event  which  hap- 
pened in  the  one  hundred  and 
first  year,  according  to  the  He- 
brew chronology,  and  the  four 
hundred  and  first  year  by  the  Sa- 
maritan, after  the  flood,  at  the 
overthrow  of  Babel,  Gen.  xi. 
Until  this  period  there  had  been 
but  one  common  language,  v/hich 
formed  a  bond  of  union  that  pre- 
vented the  separation  of  mankind 
into  distinct  nations.  Writers 
have  differed  much  as  to  the  nature 
of  this  confusion,  and  the  manner 
in  which  it  was  effected.  Some 
think  that  no  new  languages  v/ere 


formed ;  but  that  this  event  was 
accomplished  by  creating  a  mis- 
understanding and  variance  among 
the  builders,  without  any  imme- 
diate influence  on  their  language  ; 
and  that  a  distinction  is  to  be 
made  between  confounding  a  lan- 
guage and  forming  new  ones. 
Others  account  for  this  event  by 
the  privation  of  all  language,  and 
by  supposing  that  mankind  were 
under  a  necessity  of  associating 
together,  and  of  imposing  new 
names  on  things  by  common  con- 
sent. Some,  again,  ascribe  the 
confusion  to  such  an  indistinct  re- 
membrance of  the  original  lan- 
guage which  they  spoke  before,  as 
made  them  speak  it  verj'  different- 
ly :  but  the  most  common  opinion 
is,  that  God  caused  the  builders 
actually  to  forget  their  former 
language,  and  each  family  to 
speak  a  new  tongue  ;  whence  ori- 
ginated the  various  languages  at 
present  in  the  world.  It  is,  how- 
ever, but  of  little  consequence  to 
know  precisely  how  this  was  ef- 
fected, as  the  scriptures  are  si- 
lent as  to  the  manner  of  it ;  and 
after  all  that  can  be  said,  it  is  but 
conjecture  still.  There  are  some 
truths,  however,  we  may  learn 
from  this  part  of  sacred  writ. — 
1.  It  teaches  us  God's  sovereig^n- 
ty  and  power,  by  which  he  can 
easily  blast  the  greatest  attempts 
of  men  to  aggrandize  themselves, 
Gen.  xi,  f,  8. — 2.  God's  justice 
in  punishing  of  those  who,  in 
idolizing  their  own  fame,  forget 
him  to  whom  praise  is  due,  4  ver. 
— 3.  God's  wisdom  in  overruling 
evil  for  good  ;  for  by  this  confu- 
sion he  facilitated  the  dispersion 
of  m.ankind,  in  order  to  execute 


CON 


173 


CON 


his  own  purposes,  8,  9,  ver.  See 
Henry  and  Gill  hi  loc. ;  Stilling'' 
jleei's  Grig,  Sac.^  1.  iii,  c.  v,  §  2-4  ; 
ShiickforcPs  Con.^  vol.  i.  p.  124- 
140;  Vitringd*s  Obs.^  vol.  i,  diss. 
1,  c.  ix  ;  Le  Clerc's  Diss.,  No.  vi ; 
Hutchinson  on  the  Confusion  of 
Tongues ;  Bishop  Lazv's  Theory  of 
Religion,  p.  66. 

CONGREGATION,  an  as- 
sembly of  people  met  together  for 
religious  worship.  The  term  has 
been  also  used  for  assemblies  of 
cardinals  appointed  by  the  pope 
for  the  discharge  of  certain  func- 
tions, after  the  manner  of  our 
offices  and  courts :  such  as  the 
congregation  of  the  inquisition,  the 
congregation  of  rites,  of  alms,  &c. 
&c. — It  also  signifies  a  company 
or  society  of  religious  persons  can- 
toned out  of  this  or  that  order, 
and  making  an  inferior  order,  &c. 
Such  are  the  congregations  of  the 
Oratory ;  those  of  Cluny,  &c. 
among  the  Benedictines. 

CONGREGATIONALISTS, 
a  denomination  of  Protestants  who 
reject  all  church  government,  ex- 
cept that  of  a  single  congregation 
under  the  direction  of  one  pastor, 
with  their  elders,  assistants,  or  ma- 
nagers.    See  Church. 

CONONITES,  a  denomination 
which  appeared  in  the  sixth  cen- 
tuiy.  They  derived  their  name 
from  Conon,  bishop  of  Tarsus.  He 
trught  that  the  body  never  lost 
its  form ;  that  its  matter  alone 
was  subject  to  corruption  and  de- 
cay, and  was  to  be  restored  when 
this  mortal  shall  put  on  immor- 
tality. 

CONSCIENCE  signifies  know- 
ledge in  conjunction  ;  that  is,  in 
conjunction  with  the  fact  to  which 


it  is  a  witness,  as  the  eye  is  to  the 
action  done  before  it ;  or,  as  South 
observes,  it  is  a  double  or  joint 
knowledge,  namely,  one  of  a  di- 
vine law  or  rule,  and  the  other 
of  a  man's  own  action.  It  may  be 
defined  to  be  the  judgment  which 
a  man  passes  on  the  morality  of 
his  actions  as  to  their  purity  or 
turpitude ;  or  the  secret  testimony 
of  the  soul,  whereby  it  approves 
things  that  are  good,  and  con- 
demns those  that  are  evil.  Some 
object  to  its  being  called  an  act,  ha- 
bit, or  faculty.  An  act,  say  they, 
would  be  represented  as  an  agent, 
whereas  conscience  is  a  testimony. 
To  say  it  is  a  habit,  is  to  speak  of 
it  as  a  disposition  acting,  v/hich  is 
scarce  more  accurate  than  ascrib- 
ing one  act  to  another;  and,  be- 
sides, it  would  be  strange  language 
to  say  that  conscience  itself  is  a 
habit.  Against  defining  it  by  the 
name  of  a  power  or  faculty,  it 
is  objected,  that  it  occasions  a 
false  notion  of  it,  as  a  distinct 
power  from  reason. 

The  rules  of  conscience.  We  must 
distinguish  between  a  rule  that  of 
itself  and  immediately  binds  the 
conscience,  and  a  rule  that  is  oc- 
casionally of  use  to  direct  and  sa- 
tisfy the  conscience.  Now  in  the 
first  sense  the  will  of  God  is  the 
only  rule  immediately  binding  the 
conscience.  No  one  has  autho- 
rity over  the  conscience  but  God. 
All  penal  laws,  thei^efore,  in  mat- 
ters of  mere  conscience,  or  things 
that  do  not  evidently  affect  the  ci- 
vil state,  are  certainly  unlawful ; 
yet,  secondly,  the  commands  of 
superiors,  not  only  natui'al  as  pa- 
rents, but  civil  as  magistrates  or 
masters,    and    every    man's    pri- 


CON 


174 


COl^ 


Irate  engagements,  are  rules  of 
conscience  in  things  indifferent. 
—3.  The  examples  of  wise 
and  good  men  jnay  become 
rules  of  conscience  ;  but  here  it 
must  be  observed,  that  no  ex- 
ample or  judgment  is  of  any  au- 
thority against  law :  where  the 
law  is  doubtful,  and  even  where 
there  is  no  doubt,  the  side  of  ex- 
ample cannot  be  taken  till  enqui- 
ry has  been  first  made  concerning 
what  the  law  directs. 

Conscience  has  been  considered 
as,  1.  natural^  or  that  common 
principle  which  instructs  men  of 
all  countries  and  religions  in  the 
duties  to  which  they  are  all  alike 
obliged.  There  seems  to  be  some- 
•thing  of  this  in  the  minds  of  all 
men.  Even  in  the  darkest  re- 
gions of  the  earth,  and  among  the 
rudest  tribes  of  men,  a  distinction 
has  ever  been  made  between  just 
and  unjust,  a  dutv  and  a  crime. 

2.  A  right  conscience  is  that 
which  decides  aright,  or,  accord- 
ing to  the  onlv  rule  of  rectitude, 
the  law  of  God.  This  is  also 
called  a  zvell-informed  conscience^ 
which  in  all  its  decisions  proceeds 
upon  the  most  evident  principles 
of  truth. 

5.  K probable  conscience  is  that 
which,  in  cases  which  admit  of 
the  brightest  and  fullest  light,  con- 
tents itself  with  bare  probabilities. 
The  consciences  of  many  are  of 
no  higher  character;  and  though 
we  must  not  say  a  man  cannot  be 
saved  with  such  a  conscience,  yet 
such  a  conscience  is  not  so  perfect 
as  it  might  be. 

4.  An  ignorant  conscience  is 
that  v^'hich  may  declare  right,  but, 


as  it  were,  by  chance,  and  with-* 
out  any  just  ground  to  build  on. 

5.  An  erroneous  conscience  is  a 
conscience  mistaken  in  its  deci- 
sions about  the  nature  of  actions. 

6.  A  doubting  conscience  is  a 
conscience  unresolved  about  the 
nature  of  actions  ;  on  account  of 
the  equal  or  nearly  equal  probabi- 
lities which  appear  for  and  against 
each  side  of  the  question. 

7.  Of  an  evil  conscience  there 
are  several  kinds.  Conscience,  in 
regard  to  actions  in  general,  is 
evil  when  it  has  lost  more  or  less 
the  sense  it  ought  to  have  of  the 
natural  distinctions  of  moral  good 
and  evil :  this  is  a  polluted  or 
defiled  conscience.  Conscience 
is  evil  in  itself  when  it  gives  ei- 
ther none  or  a  false  testimony  as 
to  past  actions :  when  reflecting 
upon  wickedness  it  feels  no  pains, 
it  is  evil,  and  said  to  be  feared,  or 
hardened,  1st  Tim.  iv,  2.  It  is 
also  evil  when  during  the  commis- 
sion of  sin  it  lies  quiet.  In  regard 
to  future  actions,  conscience  is  evil 
if  it  does  not  startle  at  the  propo- 
sal of  sin,  or  connives  at  the  com- 
mission of  it. 

For  the  right  management  of 
conscience,  v/e  should,  1.  Endea- 
vour to  obtain  acquaintance  with 
the  law  of  God,  and  with  our  own 
tempers  and  lives,  and  frequently 
compare  them  together. 

3.  Furnish  conscience  with  ge- 
neral principles  of  the  most  ex- 
tensive nature  and  strongest  in- 
fluence ;  such  as  the  supreme  love 
of  God  ;  love  to  our  neighbours 
as  ourselves  ;  and  that  the  care 
of  our  souls  is  of  the  greatest  im- 
portance. 


CON 


175 


CON 


3.  Preserve  the  purity  of  con- 
science. 

4.  Maintain  the  freedom  of  con- 
•Bcience,  particularly  against  inte- 
rest, passion,  temper,  example,  and 
the  authority  of  great  names. 

5.  We  should  accustom  our- 
selves to  cool  reflections  on  our 
past  actions.  See  Grove's  and 
Paleif^s  Moral  Philosophy  ;  South'' s 
Sermons^  vol.  ii,  ser-  12 ;  and  books 
under  Casuistry. 

CONSCIOUSNESS,  the  per- 
ception of  what  passes  in  a  man's 
own  mind.  We  must  not  con- 
found the  terms  consciousness  and 
conscience ;  for  though  the  Latin\ 
be  ignorant  of  any  such  distinc- 
tion, including  both  in  the  word 
conscientia^  yet  there  is  a  great 
deal  of  difference  between  them 
in  our  language.  Consciousness 
is  confined  to  the  actions  of  the 
mind,  being  nothing  else  but  that 
knowledge  of  itself  which  is  in- 
separable from  every  thought  and 
voluntary  motion  of  the  soul. 
Conscience  extends  to  all  human 
actions,  bodily  as  well  as  mental. 
Consciousness  is  the  knowledge  of 
the  existence  ;  conscience  of  the 
moral  nature  of  actions.  Conscious- 
ness is  a  province  of  metaphysics ; 
conscience  of  morality. 

CONSECRATION,  a  rite  or 
ceremony  of  dedicating  things  or 
persons  to  the  sei'vice  of  God.  It 
is  used  for  the  benediction  of  the 
elements  at  the  eucharist :  the  or- 
dination of  bishops  is  also  called 
consecration. 

The  Mosaicallaw  ordained  that 
all  the  first  born,  both  of  man  and 
beast,  should  be  sanctified  or  con- 
secrated to  God.     We  find  also, 


that  Joshua  consecrated  the  Gi^ 
beonites,  as  David  and  Solomon 
did  the  Nethinims,  to  the  service 
of  the  temple  ;  and  that  the  He- 
brews sometimes  consecrated  their 
fields  and  cattle  to  the  Lord,  after 
which  they  were^no  longer  in  their 
power.  Among  the  ancient  chris- 
tians, the  consecration  of  churches 
was  performed  with  a  great  deal  of 
pious  solemnity.  In  what  manner 
it  was  done  for  the  three  first  ages 
is  uncertain,  the  authentic  ac- 
counts reaching  no  higher  than 
the  fourth  century,  when,  in  the 
peaceable  reign  of  Constantine, 
churches  were  every  where  built 
and  dedicated  with  great  solemni- 
ty. The  Romanists  have  a  great 
deal  of  foppery  in  the  ceremonies 
of  consecration,  which  they  bestow 
on  almost  every  thing;  as  bells, 
candles,  books,  water,  oil,  ashes, 
palms,  swords,  banners,  pictures, 
crosses,  agnus  deis,  roses,  &c. 
In  England,  churches  have  been 
always  consecrated  with  particu- 
lar ceremonies,  the  form  of  which 
was  left  to  the  discretion  of  the 
bishop.  That  observed  by  abp. 
Laud,  in  consecrating  Saint  Ca- 
therine Cree  church,  in  London, 
gave  great  offence,  and  well  it 
might.  It  was  enough,  as  one 
observes,  to  have  made  even  a 
popish  cardinal  blush,  and  which 
no  Protesant  can  read  but  with 
indignant  concern.  "  The  bishop 
came  attended  with  several  of  the 
high  commission,  and  some  civi- 
lians. At  his  approach  to  the 
west  door  of  the  church,  which 
was  shut,  and  guarded  by  halber- 
deers,  some  that  were  appointed 
for    that  purpose    cried   with   a 


CON 


176 


CON 


loud  %-oice — Open^  open,  ye  ever- 
lasting doors,  that  the  King  of 
Glory  may  come  in!  Presently 
the  doors  were  opened,  and  the 
bishop,  with  some  doctors  and 
principal  men,  entered.  As  soon 
as  they  were  within  the  place, 
liis  lordship  fell  down  upon  his 
inees  j  and,  with  eyes  lifted  up, 
and  his  arms  spread  abroad,  said. 
This  place  is  holy  ;  the  ground  is 
hohf :  in  the  name  of  the  Father, 
Son,  and  Holy  Ghost,  I  pronounce 
it' holy.  Then,  walking  up  the 
middle  aisle  towards  the  chan- 
cel, he  took  up  some  of  the  dust, 
and  threw  it  into  the  air  several 
times.  When  he  approached 
near  the  rail  of  the  communion- 
table, he  bowed  towards  it  five 
or  six  times ;  and,  returning,  went 
round  the  church,  with  his  at- 
tendants in  procession ;  saying  first 
the  hundredth  and  then  the  nine- 
teenth Psalm,  as  prescribed  in 
the  Roman  PontificaL  He  then 
read  several  collects,  in  one  of 
which  he  prays  God  to  accept  of 
that  beautiful  building,  and  con- 
eludes  thus: — V/e  consecrate  this 
church,  and  separate  it  unto  thee 
us  Holy  Ground,  not  to  be  pro- 
phaned  any  more  to  commoii  use. 
In  another  he  prays — That  ALL 
who  should  hereafter  be  buried 
within  the  circuit  of  this  holy  and 
■sacred place,  may  rest  in  their  se- 
jmlchres  in  peace,  till  Christ's 
coming  to  judgment,  and  may  then 
rise  to  eternal  life  and  happiness. 
-Then  the  bishop,  sitting  under  a 
-cloth  of  state  in  the  aisle  of  the 
chancel,  near  the  communion- 
table, took  a  written  bo6k  in  his 
liand,  and  pronounced  curses  n^on 
those  who  should  hereafter  pro~ 


phane  that  holy  place  by  musters 
of  soldiers,  or  keeping  prophane 
law  courts,  or  carrying  burdens 
through  it :  and  at  the  end  of 
every  curse  he  bowed  to  the  east, 
and  said.  Let  all  the  people  say. 
Amen.  When  the  curses  were 
ended,  which  were  about  twbnty, 
he  pronounced  a  like  number  of 
blessings  upon  ALL  that  had  any 
hand  in  framing  and  building  that 
sacred  and  beautiful  church  ;  and 
on  those  that  had  given,  or  should 
hereafter  give,  any  chalices,  plate, 
ornaments,  or  other  utensils  ;  and, 
at  the  end  of  every  blessing,  he 
bowed  to  the  east,  and  said.  Let 
all  the  people  say.  Amen.  After 
this  came  the  sermon,  then  the 
sacrament,  which  the  bishop  con- 
secrated and  administered  in  the 
following  manner  : — As  he  ap- 
proached the  altar,  he  made  five 
or  six  low  bows  j  and  coming  up 
to  the  side  of  it,  where  the  bread 
and  wi7ie  were  covered,  he  bowed 
seven  times.  Then,  after  reading 
many  prayers,  he  came  near  the 
bread,  and,  gently  lifting  up  the 
corner  of  the  napkin,  beheld  it ; 
and  immediately  letting  fall  the 
napkin,  he  retreated  hastily  a  step 
or  tv/o,  and  made  three  low 
obeisances  :  his  lordship  then  ad- 
vanced, and,  having  uncovered 
the  bread,  bowed  three  times  as 
before.  Then  he  laid  his  hand 
on  the  cup,  which  was  full  of 
wine,  with  a  cover  upon  it ;  which 
having  let  go,  he  stepped  back, 
and  bowed  three  times  towards  it; 
then  he  camd  near  again,  and, 
lifting  up  the  cover  of  the  cup, 
looked  in  it ;  and  seeing  the  wine, 
let  fall  the  cover  again,  retired 
back,  and  bowed  as  before.    Then 


CON 


177 


CON 


ihe  elements  were  consecrated ; 
and  the  bishops  having  first  re- 
ceived, gave  it  to  some  principal 
men  in  their  surplices,  hoods,  and 
tippets ;  after  which,  many  prayers 
being  said,  the  solemnity  of  the 
consecration  ended." 

CONSISTENTES,  a  kind  of 
penitents,  who  were  allowed  to 
assist  at  prayers,  but  who  could 
not  be  admitted  to  receive  the 
sacrament. 

CONSISTORY,  a  word  com- 
monly used  for  a  council-house  of 
ecclesiastical  persons,  or  place  of 
justice  in  the  spiritual  court:  a  ses- 
sion or  assembly  of  prelates.  Eve- 
ry arch-bishop  and  bishop  of  every 
diocese  hath  a  consistory  court, 
held  before  his  chancellor  or  com- 
missary, in  his  cathedral  church, 
or  other  convenient  place  of  his 
diocese,  for  ecclesiastical  causes. 
The  bishop's  chancellor  is  the  judge 
of  this  court,  supposed  to  be  skill- 
ed in  the  civil  and  canon  law  ;  and 
in  places  of  the  diocese  far  re- 
mote from  the  bishop's  consistory, 
the  bishop  appoints  a  commissary 
to  judge  in  all  causes  within  a 
certain  district,  and  a  register  to 
enter  his  decrees,  &c.  Consistory 
at  Rome,  denotes  the  college  of 
cardinals,  or  the  pope's  senate 
and  council,  before  whom  judi- 
ciary causes  are  pleaded.  Con- 
sistory is  also  used  among  the  re- 
formed for  a  council  or  assembly 
of  ministers  and  elders  to  regu- 
late their  affairs,  discipline,  &c. 

CONSTANCY,  in  a  general 
sense,  denotes  immutability,  or  in- 
variableness.  When  applied  to  the 
human  mind,  it  is  a  steady  adher- 
ence to  those  schemes  and  reso- ! 
lutions  which  have  been  maturely 

Vol.  h  A' a 


formed  ;  the  effect  of  which  is^ 
that  a  man  never  drops  a  good 
design  out  of  fear,  and  is  con- 
sistent with  himself  in  all  his  words 
and  actions. 

Constancy  is  more  particularly 
required  of  us,  I.  In  our  devo* 
tions,  Luke  xviii,  1.  IstThess.  v, 
17,  18. — 2.  Under  our  sufferings^ 
Matt,  v,  12, 13.  1st  Pet.  iv,  12, 13. 
— 3.  In  our  profession  and  cha- 
racter, Heb.  X,  23. — 4.  In  our 
beneficence.  Gal.  vi,  9. — 5.  In 
our  friendships,  Prov.  xxvii,  10. 

CONSUBSTANTIAL,  aterm 
of  like  import  with  co-essential, 
denoting  something  of  the  same 
substance  with  another.  Thus  we 
say,  that  Christ  is  consubstantial 
with  the  Father.  The  term 
o(j.oiiarioi^  cOnsubstantial,  was  first 
adopted  by  t*he  fathers  of  the 
councils  of  Antioch  and  Nice,  to 
express  the  orthodox  doctrine  the 
more  precisely,  and  to  serve  as  a 
barrier  and  precaution  against  the 
errors  and  subtleties  of  the  Ari- 
ans,  tvho  owned  every  thing  ex- 
cept the  consubstantiality.  The 
Arians  allowed  that  the  word  was 
God,  as  having  been  made  God ; 
but  they  denied  that  he  was  the 
same  God,  and  of  the  same  sub- 
stance with  the  Father :  accord- 
ingly they  exerted  themselves  to 
the  utmost  to  abolish  the  use  of 
the  word.  The  emperor  Constan- 
tine  used  all  his  authority'  with 
the  bishops  to  have  it  expunged 
out  of  the  symbols ;  but  it  Avas  re- 
tained, and  is  at  this  day,  as  it 
was  then,  the  distinguishing  cri- 
terion between  an  Athanasian  and 
an  Avian.  See  articles  Arians, 
land  Tesus  Christ. 
i       CONSUBSTANTIATION, 


CON 


/o 


CON 


a  tenet  of  the  Lutheran  churchj 
with  regard  to  the  manner  of  the 
change  made  in  the  bread  and  wine 
in  the  eucharist.  The  divines  of 
that  profession  maintain  that,  after 
consecration,  the  body  and  blood 
of  our  Saviour  are  substantially 
present,  together  with  the  sub- 
stance of  the  bread  and  wine, 
which  is  called  consubstantiation, 
or   impanation.       See    Transub- 

STANTIATIOxV. 

CONTEMPLATION,  studi- 
ous thought  on  any  subject ;  con- 
tinued attention.  "  Monks  and 
mystics  consider  contemplation  as 
the  highest  degree  of  moral  excel- 
lence -y  and  with  them  a  silent 
spectator  is  a  divine  man  :"  but 
it  is  evident  we  are  not  placed 
here  only  to  think.  There  is 
something  to  be  done  as  well  as  to 
contemplate.  There  are  duties 
to  be  performed,  offices  to  be  dis- 
charged ;  and,  if  we  wish  to  be 
happy  in  ourselves  and  useful  to 
others,  we  must  be  active  as  well 
as  thoui^htfuL 

CONTENTMENT  is  a  dis- 
position of  mind  in  which  our  de- 
sires are  confined  to  what  we  en- 
joy, V,  itliout  murmuring  at  our  lot, 
or  wishing  ardendy  for  more.  It 
stands  opjjcsed  to  envy,  James  iii, 
16.  to  avarice,  Heb.  xiii,  5.  to 
pride  and  ambition,  Prov.  xiii,  10. 
to  anxiety  of  .mind,  Matt,  vi,  25, 
34.  to  murmurings  and  repinings, 
1st  Cor.  X,  10.  Contentment 
does  not  imply  unconcern  about 
our  welfare,  or  that  Vv"e  should 
not  have  a  sense  of  any  thing 
uneasy  or  distressing ;  nor  does 
it  give  any  countenance  to  idle- 
ness, or  prevent  diligent  endea- 
vours   to    inipro\-e    our   circi'ra- 


st-ances.  It  implies,  however,  that 
our  desires  of  woi'ldly  good  be 
moderate  ;  that  we  do  not  in- 
dulge unnecessary  care,  or  use  un- 
lawful efforts  to  better  ourselves  ; 
but  that  we  acquiesce  with  and 
make  the  best  of  our  condition, 
whatever  it  be.  Contentment 
arises  not  from  a  man's  outward 
condition,  but  from  his  inward 
disposition,  and  is  the  genuine  off- 
spring of  humility,  attended  with 
a  fixed  habitual  sense  of  God's 
particular  providence,  the  re- 
collection of  past  mercies,  and  a 
just  estimate  of  the  true  nature  of 
all  earthly  things.  Motives  to 
contentment  arise  from  the  con- 
sideration of  the  rectitude  of  the 
Divine  government,  Ps.  xcvii,  1, 
2.  the  benignity  of  the  Divine  pro- 
vidence, Ps.  cxlr.  the  greatness  of 
the  Divine  promises,  2d  Pet.  i,  4. 
our  ov/n  unv/orthiness.  Gen.  xxxii, 
10.  the  punishments  we  deserve, 
Lam.  iii,  39,  40.  the  reward 
which  contentment  itself  brings 
with  it,  1st  Tim.  vi,  6.  the  speedy 
termination  of  all  our  troubles 
here,  and  the  prospect  of  eternal 
felicity  in  a  future  state,  Rom.  v, 
2.  Barroxo's  Worh^  vol.  iii.  ser. 
5,  6,  7,  8,  9 ;  Bwrovghs  on  Con- 
tentment;  JVatson^s  Art  oj' ditto; 
Nak^s  Cont.^  p.  59;  Mason's  Chris- 
tian Morals^  vol.  i,  ser.  2. 

CONTINENCY  is  that  moral 
virtue  by  which  we  restrain  con- 
cupiscence. There  is  this  dis- 
tinction between  chastity  and  con- 
tinence : — Chastity  requires  no  ef- 
fort, because  it  may  result  from 
constitution  j  v/hereas  continency 
appears  to  be  tlie  consequence  of 
a  victory  gained  over  ourselves. 
The  ten»  is  most  usually  applied 


CON 


179 


CON 


to  men  ;  as  chastity  is  to  women. 
See  Chastity. 

CONTINGENT,  any  thing 
that  happens  without  a  fore-known 
cause ;  commonly  called  acci- 
dental. An  event  not  come  to 
pass  is  said  to  be  contingent, 
which  cither  may  or  may  not  be  : 
what  is  already  done,  is  said  to 
have  been  contingent,  if  it  might 
or  might  not  have  been.  What  is 
contingent  or  casual  to  us  is  not  so 
with  God.  As  effects  stand  relat- 
ed to  a  second  cause,  they  are 
many  times  cordingent;  but  as 
they  stand  related  to  the  first  cause, 
they  are  acts  of  God's  counsel, 
and  directed  by  his  wisdom. 

CONTRITE  :  this  word  sig- 
nifies beaten  or  bruised,  as  with 
hard  blows,  or  an  heavy  burden  ; 
and  so  in  scripture  language  im- 
ports one  whose  heart  is  broken 
and  wounded  for  sin,  in  oppo- 
sition to  the  heart  -of  stone, 
Is.  Ixvi,  2.  Ps.  li,  17.  Ps.  Ivii, 
15. 

The  evidences  of  a  broken  and 
contrite  spirit  are,  1.  Deep  con- 
viction of  the  evil  of  sin^ — 2.  Hu- 
miliation under  a  sense  of  it,  Job 
xlii,  5,  6.-3.  Pungent  sorrow  for 
it.  Zee.  xii,  10. — i.  Ingenuous 
confession  of  it,  1st  John,  i,  9. — 
5.  Prayer  for  deliverance  from  it, 
Ps.  li,  10.  Luke  xviii,  13. — 6. 
Susceptibility  of  good  impressions, 
Ezek.  xi    19. 

CONTROVERSIAL  DIVI- 
NITY.    See  Disputation. 
CONVENT.      See    Abbey, 

MONASTARY,    MoNK. 

CONVENTICLE,  a  diminu- 
tive of  convent,  denoting  properly 
a  cabal,  or  secret  assembly  of  a 
part  of  the  monks  of  a  convent,  to 


make  a  party  in  the  election  of 
an  abbot.  The  term  conventicle 
is  said  by  some  to  have  been  first 
applied  in  England  to  the  schools 
of  Wickliffe,  and  has  been  since 
used  in  a  way  of  reproach  for  those 
assemblies  which  dissent  fi-cm  the 
established  church. 

By  22  Car.  II,  cap.  1,  it  is  en- 
acted. That  if  any  persons  of  the 
age  of  sixteen  years,  subjects  of 
this  kingdom,  shall  be  present  at 
any  conventicle  Vv'here  there  are 
five  or  more  assembled,  they  shall 
be  fined  five  shillings  for  the  first 
offence,  and  ten  shillings  for  th€ 
second:  and  persons  preaching, 
incur  a  penalty  of  twenty  pounds. 
Also  suffering  a  meeting  to  be 
held  in  a  house  is  twenty  pounds 
penalty :  justices  of  peace  have 
power  to  enter  such  houses,  and 
seize  persons  assembled  ;  and  if 
they  neglect  their  duty,  they  for- 
feit 100/.  And  if  any  constable, 
&c.  know  of  such  proceedings, 
and  do  not  inform  a  justice  of 
peace  or  chief  magistrate,  he 
shall  forfeit  5/.  But  the  1st  of 
William  and  Mary,  cap.  1 8,  or- 
dains that  Protestant  Dissen- 
ters shall  be  exempted  from 
these  penalties  ;  though  if  they 
meet  in  a  house  with  the  doors 
locked,  barred,  or  bolted,  such  . 
Dissenters  shall  have  no  benefit^fT 
from  the  1st  of  William  and  Mary. 
Officers  of  the  government,  &c., 
present  at  any  conventicle  at 
which  there  shail  be  ten  persons, 
if  the  royal  family  be  not  prayed 
for  in  express  words,  shall  forfeit 
40/.,  and  be  disabled,  Stat,  10. 
Anne,  cap.  2. 

C0NVI;KSATI0N,    or  dis- 
course,signifies  an  interlocution  be- 


CON 


180 


CON 


^ween  two  or  more  persons,  with 
this  distinction,  that  conversation  is 
used  for  any  general  intercourse 
of  sentiments  whatever,  whereas  a 
discourse  means  a  conversation 
limitted  to  some  particular  sub- 
ject. 

To  render  conversation  at  all 
times  agreeable,  the  following 
rules  have  been  laid  down,  1.  The 
parties  should  meet  together  w^ith 
a  determined  resolution  to  please 
and  to  be  pleased. — 2.  No  one 
should  be  eager  to  interrupt  others, 
or  be  uneasy  at  being  interrupted. 
— 3.  All  should  have  leave  to 
speak  in  turn. — 4.  Inattention 
should  be  carefully  avoided. — 5. 
Private  concerns  should  never  be 
mentioned,  unless  particularly  en- 
quired into,  and  even  then  as 
briefly  as  possible. — 6.  Each  per- 
son should,  as  far  as  propriety 
will  admit,  be  afforded  an  oppor- 
tunity of  discoursing  on  the  sub-r 
ject  with  which  he  is  best  ac- 
quainted.— 7.  Stories  should  be 
avoided,  unless  short,  pointed, 
and  quite  a  propos. — 8.  Each  per- 
son should  speak  often,  but  not 
long.  Haranguing  in  private  com- 
pany is  insupportable. — 9.  If  the 
majority  of  the  company  be  natu- 
rally silent  or  reserved,  the  con- 
versation will  flag,  unless  it  be  of- 
ten renev/ed  by  one  who  can  start 
new  subjects. — 10.  It  is  improper 
to  laugh  at  one's  own  wit  and  hu- 
mour; this  should  be  left  to  the 
company.-^— 11.  When  the  conver- 
sation is  flowing  in  a  serious  and 
useful  channel,  never  interrupt  it 
by  an  ill-timed  jest.-^12r  It  is  at 
^11  times  extremely  Indelicate  to 
whisper  to  one's  next  neighbour  : 
jl^is  is  in  some  degree  a  fraud,  con- 


versation being  a  kind  of  commcB 
property. — 13.  In  speaking  of 
absent  people,  the  infallible  rule  is, 
to  say  no  more  than  we  should  say 
if  they  were  present.  "  I  resolve," 
said  bishop  Beveridge,  "  never  to 
speak  of  a  man's  virtues  to  his 
face,  nor  of  his  faults  behind  his 
back."  A  golden  rule  !  the  ob- 
servation of  which  would  at  once 
banish  flattery  and  defamation 
from  the  world. 

CONVERSION,  a  change 
from  one  state  to  another.  Con- 
version may  be,  1.  Merely  exter- 
nal^ or  that  which  consists  only  in 
an  outward  reformation. — 2.  Doo- 
trinal,  or  a  change  of  sentiments. 
-—3.  Savings  which  consists  in  the 
renovation  of  the  heart  and  life,  or 
a  turning-  from  the  power  of  sin 
and  Satan  unto  God,  Acts  xxvi, 
18.  and  is  produced  by  the  influ- 
ence of  Divine  grace  on  the  soul. 
-^4.  Sometimes  it  is  put  for  res- 
toration^  a§  in  the  case  of  Peter, 
Luke  xxii,  32.  The  instrumental 
cause  of  conversion  is  usually 
the. ministry  of  the  word  ;  though 
sometimes  it  is  produced  by  read- 
ing, by  serious  and  appropriate 
conversation,  sanctified  afflictions, 
&c.  Conversion,  says  the  great 
Charnock,  is  to  be  distinguished 
from  regeneration  thus. — "  Re- 
generation is  a  spiritual  change  ; 
conversion  is  a  spiritual  motion  : 
in  regeneration  there  is  a  pow- 
er conferred ;  conversion  is  the 
exercise  of  this  power:  in  re- 
generation there  is  given  us  a 
principle  to  turn  j  conversion  is 
our  actual  turning.  In  the  co- 
venant, God's  putting  his  Spirit 
into  us  is  distinguislied  from  our 
v/alking  in  his  statutes  from  tho 


CON 


181 


CON 


first  step  we  take  in  the  way"  of 
God,  and  is  set  down  as  the  cause 
of  our  motion,  Ezek.  xxxvi,  27.  In 
renewing  us,  God  gives  us  a  pow- 
er; in  converting  us,  he  excites  that 
power.  Men  are  naturally  dead, 
and  have  a  stone  upon  them  :  re- 
generation is  a  rolling  away  the 
stone  from  the  heart,  and  a  raising' 
to  newness  of  life  ;  and  then  con- 
version is  as  natural  to  a  regene- 
rate man  as  motion  is  to  a  lively 
body.  A  principle  of  activity 
•will  produce  action.  In  regenera- 
tion, man  is  wholly  passive  ;  in 
conversion,  he  is  active.  The 
first  reviving  us  is  wholly  the  act 
of  God,  without  any  concurrence 
of  the  creature  ;  but  after  we  are 
revived  we  do  actively  and  volun- 
tarily live  in  his  sight.  Regenera- 
tion is  the  motion  of  God  in  the 
creature ;  conversion  is  the  mo- 
tion of  the  creature  to  God,  by 
virtue  of  that  first  principle :  from 
this  principle  all  the  acts  of 
believing,  repenting,  mortifying, 
quickening,  do  spring.  In  all 
these  a  man  is  active  ;  in  the  other 
he  is  merely  passive."  Conver- 
sion evidences  itself  by  ardent 
love  to  God,  Ps.  Ixxiii,  25.  delight 
in  his  people,  John  xiii,  33.  at- 
tendance on  his  ordinances,  Ps. 
xxvii,  4.  confidence  in  his  pro- 
mises, Ps.  ix,  10.  abhorrence  of 
self,  and  renunciation  of  the 
world,  Job  xlii,  5.  Jas.  iv,  4.  sub- 
mission to  his  authority,  and  uni- 
form obedience  to  his  word,  Matt, 
vii,  20.  See  Calling,  Rege- 
neration. 

CONVERT,  a  person  who  is 
converted.  In  a,  monastic  sense, 
converts  are  lay  friars,  or  brothers 
admitted  for  the  service  of   the 


house,  without  orders,  and  not  al- 
lowed to  sing  in  the  choir. 

CONVICTION,  in  general,  is  ' 
the  assurance  of  the  truth  of  any 
proposition.  In  a  religious  sense, 
it  is  the  first  degree  of  repentance, 
and  implies  an  affecting  sense  that 
we  are  guilty  before  God  ;  that  we 
can  do  nothing  of  ourselves  to 
gain  his  forfeited  favour ;  that  we 
deserve  and  are  exposed  to  the 
wrath  of  God ;  that  sin  is  very  odi- 
ous and  hateful,  yea,  the  greatest 
of  evils.  There  is  a  natural  con- 
viction which  arises  from  natural 
conscience,  fear  of  punishment, 
moral  suasion,  or  alarming  pro- 
vidences, but  which  is  not  of  a 
permanent  nature.  Saving-  con- 
viction is  the  work  of  the  Spirit, 
as  the  cause;  though  the  law,  the 
conscience,  the  gospel,  or  afflic- 
tion, may  be  the  means,  John  xvi, 
8,  9.  Convictions  of  sin  differ 
very  much  in  their  degree  in  dif- 
ferent persons.  It  has  been  ob- 
served that  those  who  suffer  the 
most  agonizing  sensations  are  such 
as  never  before  enjoyed  the  ex- 
ternal call  of  the  gospel,  or  were 
not  favoured  with  the  tuition  of 
religious  parents,  but  have  neg- 
lected or  notoriously  abused  the 
means  of  grace.  To  these,  con- 
viction is  often  sudden,  and  pro- 
duces that  horror  and  shame 
which  are  not  soon  overcome ; 
whereas  those  who  have  sat  un- 
der the  gospel  from  their  infancy 
have  not  had  such  alarming  con- 
victions, because  they  have  al- 
ready some  notion  of  these  things, 
and  have  so  much  acquaintance 
with  the  gospel  as  administers 
immediate  comfort.  As  it  is 
not,  therefore,  the  constant  mc- 


CON 


182 


CON 


fehocl  of  the  Spirit  to  convince  in 
one  way,  it  is  improper  for  any 
to  distress  theniselves  because 
they  are  not,  or  have  not  been 
tormented  almost  to  despair :  they 
should  be  rather  thankful  that  the 
Spirit  of  God  has  dealt  tenderly 
with  them,  and  opened  to  them 
the  source  of  consolation.  It  is 
necessary  however  to  observe,  that, 
in  order  to  repentance  and  con- 
version to  God,  there  must  be 
real  and  lasting  conviction,  which, 
though  it  may  not  be  the  same 
in  degree,  is  the  same  in  nature. 
Evangelical  conviction  differs  from 
legal  conviction  thus  :  legal  arises 
fi-ora  a  consideration  of  God's 
justice,  pov/er,  or  omniscience  ; 
evangelical  from  God's  goodness 
and  holiness,  and  from  a  disaffec- 
tion to  sin :  legal  conviction  still 
conceits  there  is  some  remaining 
good ;  but  evangelical  is  sensible 
there  is  no  good  at  all  j  legal 
wishes  freedom  from  pain  ;  evan- 
gelical from  sin :  legal  hardens 
the  heart ;  evangelical  softens  it : 
legal  is  only  temporaiy  ;  evange- 
lical lasting. 

CONVOCATION,  an  assem- 
bly of  persons  for  the  worship  of 
God,  Lev.  xxiii.  Numb,  xxviii. 
Exod.  xii,  16.  An  assembly  of 
the  .  clergy  for  consultation  upon 
matters  ecclesiastical. 

As  the  parliament  consists  of 
two  distinct  houses,  so  does  this 
convocation.  The  one  called  the 
ypper  house,  where  the  archbishops 
and  bishops  sit  severally  by  them- 
selves ;  the  other  the  lov.-er  house, 
where  all  the  rest  of  -the  clergy 
are  represented  by  their  deputies. 
— The  inferior  clergy  are  repre- 


sented by  their  proctors  ;  consist- 
ing of  all  the  deans  and  archdea- 
cons ;  of  one  proctor  for  every 
chapter,  and  two  for  the  clergy, 
of  every  diocese — in  all,  one  hun- 
dted  and  forty-three  divines,  viz. 
twenty-tv/o  deans,  fifty-three  arch- 
deacons, twenty-four  prebendaries, 
and  forty- four  proctors  of  the  dio- 
cesan clergy.  The  lower  house 
chooses  its  prolocutor,  who  is  to 
take  care  that  the  members  at- 
tend, to  collect  their  debates  and 
votes,  and  to  carry  their  resolu- 
tions to  the  upper  house.  The 
convocation  is  summoned  by  the 
king's  writ,  directed  to  the  arch- 
bishop of  each  province,  requiring 
him  to  summon  all  bishops,  deans, 
aixhdeacons,  &c.  The  power  of 
the  convocation  is  limited  by  a  sta- 
tute of  Henry  VIII.  They  are  not 
to  make  any  canons,  or  eccle- 
siastical laws,  without  the  king's 
licence ;  nor,  when  permitted, 
can  they  put  them  in  execution 
but  under  several  restrictions. — 
They  have  the  examining  and 
censuring  all  heretical  and  chis- 
matical  books  and  persons,  &c.  ; 
but  there  lies  an  appeal  to  the 
king  in  chancery,  or  to  his  dele- 
gates. The  clergy  in  convoca- 
tion, and  their  servants,  have  the 
same  privileges  as  members  of 
parliament.  In  1665,  the  con- 
vocation of  the  clei'gy  gave  up  the 
privilege  of  taxing  themselves  to 
the  house  of  commons,  in  con- 
sideration of  their  being  allowed  to 
vote  at  the  election  of  members 
for  that  house.  Since  that  period 
they  have  been  seldom  allowed  to 
do  any  business  ;  and  are  general- 
ly prorogued  from  time  to  time  till 


COP 


183 


COR 


dissolved,  a  new  convocation  be- 
ing generally  called  along  with  a 
new  parliament. 

COPHTI,  CoPHT,  or  Copti,  a 
name  given  to  the  christians  of 
Egypt  who  are  of  the  sect  of  the 
Jacobites.  See  Jacobites.  The 
Cophts  have  a  patriarch,  who  re- 
sides at  Cairo  ;  but  he  takes  his 
title  from  Alexandria.  He  has 
no  archbishop  under  him,  but 
eleven  or  twelve  bishops.  The 
rest  of  the  clergy,  whether  secular 
or  regular,  are  composed  of  the 
orders  of  St.  Anthony,  St.  Paul, 
and  St.  Macarius,  who  have  each 
their  monasteries.  Besides  the 
orders  of  priests,  deacons,  and 
sub-deacons,  the  Cophts  have, 
likewise  archimandrites,  or  ab- 
bots J  the  dignity  whereof  they 
confer  with  all  the  prayers  and 
ceremonies  of  a  strict  ordination. 
By  a  custom  of  six  hundred  years 
standing,  if  a  priest  elected  bishop 
be  not  already  archimandrite,  that 
dignity  must  be  conferred  on  him 
before  episcopal  ordination.  The 
second  person  among  the  clergy 
after  the  patriarch  is  the  titular 
patriarch  of  Jerusalem,  v/ho  also 
resides  at  Cairo.  To  him  belongs 
the  government  of  the  Cophtic 
church  during  the  vacancy  of  the 
patriarchal  see.  To  be  elected 
patriarch,  it  is  necessary  tlie  per- 
son have  lived  all  his  life  in  con- 
tinence. To  be  elected  bishop, 
the  person  must  be  in  the  celibate  ; 
or  If  he- have  been  married,  it  must 
not  be  above  once.  The  priests 
and  inferior  ministers  are  allowed 
'to  be  married  before  ordination  ; 
but  not  forced  to  it,  as  some  have 
observed.  They  have  a  great  num- 
ber of  deacons,  and  even  confer  the 


dignity  frequently  on  their  clilldren. 
None  but  the  lowest  rank  among 
the  people  commence  ecclesiastics ; 
whence  arises  that  excessive  igno- 
rance found  among  them  :  yet  the 
respect  of  the  laity  towards  the 
clergy  is  very  extraordinary.  This 
monastic  life  is  in  gi'eat  esteem 
among  them:  to  be  admitted  into 
it,  there  is  always  required  the 
consent  of  the  bishop.  The  reli- 
gious Cophts,  it  is  said,  make  a 
vow  of  perpetual  chastity ;  re- 
nounce the  world,  and  live  with 
great  austerity  in  -deserts  :  they 
are  obliged  to  sleep  in  their  clothes 
and  their  girdle,  on  a  mat  stretch- 
ed on  the  ground;  and  to  prostrate 
themselves  every  evening  one  hun- 
dred and  fifty  times  with  their  face 
and  breast  on  the  ground.  They 
are  all,  both  men  and  Avomen,  of 
the  lowest  class  of  the  people,  and 
live  on  alms.  The  nunneries  arc 
properly  hospitals,  and  few  enter 
but  widows  reduced  to  beggary. 

CORBAN,  in  Jewish  antiqui- 
ty, were  those  offerings  v/hich  had 
life  ;  in  opposition  to  the  minchab^ 
or  those  which  had  not.  It  is 
derived  from  the  word  karab^ 
which  signifies  "to  approach;" 
because  the  victims  were  brought 
to  the  rioor  of  the  tabernacle. 
The  corban  were  always  leaked 
upon  as  the  most  sacred  offerings. 
The  Jews,  are  reproached  with 
defeating,  by  means  of  the  corban, 
the  precept  of  the  fifdi  command- 
ment, which  enjoins  the  respect 
due  to  parents  ;  for,  when  a  child 
had  no  mind  to  relieve  the  wants 
of  his  father  or  mother,  he  would 
say  to  them — "  It  is  a  gift  (cor- 
ban) by  whatsoever  thou  mightest 
be   profited  by  me  ;"    i.    e.    "  I 


CO  V 


184 


CO  V 


have  devoted  that  to  God  which 
you  ask  of  me,  and  it  is  no  longer 
mine  to  give."     Mark  vii,  11. 

CORDELIER,  a  Franciscan, 
or  rehgious  of  the  order  of  St. 
Francis.  The  denomination  cor- 
delier is  said  to  have  been  given 
in  the  war  of  St.  Lewis  against  the 
infidels,  wherein  ihefi'iars  minor, 
having  repulsed  the  barbarians,  and 
that  king  having  enquired  their 
name,  it  was  answered,  they  were 
people  cor^(f/ie2,"  tied  with  ropes ;" 
alluding  to  the  girdle  of  rope,  or 
cord,  tied  with  three  knots,  which 
they  wore  as  part  of  their  ha- 
bit. 

CORNARISTS,  the  disciples 
of  Theodore  Cornhert,  an  enthusi- 
astic secretary  of  the  states  of  Hol- 
land. He  wrote,  at  the  same 
time,  against  the  Catholics,  Lu- 
therans, and  Calvinists.  He  main- 
tained that  every  religious  com- 
munion needed  reformation  ;  but 
he  added,  that  no  person  had  a 
right  to  engage  in  accomplishing 
it  without  a  mission  supported  by 
miracles.  He  was  also  of  opinion, 
that  a  person  might  be  a  good 
christian  without  being  a  member 
of  any  visible  church. 

COVENANT,  a  contract,  or 
agreement,  between  two  or  more 
parties  on  certain  terms.  The  term  s 
made  use  of  in  the  scriptures  f  .r 
covenant  are  DH^  andS/aSi^y.jj.  The 
{ormev  sjgmfieschoosing, or  friend- 
ly parting  ;  as  in  covenants  each 
party,  in  a  friendly  manner,  con- 
sented, and  so  boAnd  himself  to  the 
chosen  terms  ;  the  latter  signifies 
testame?ity  as  all  the  blessings  of 
the  covenant  are  freely  disposed  to 
us.  The  v/ord  covenant  is  also 
used     for    aii     immutable    ordi- 


nance, Jer.  xxxiil,  20.  a  promise^ 
Exod.  xxxiv,  10.  Is.  lix,  21.  and 
also  for  a  precept,  Jer.  xxxiv,  13, 
14.  In  scripture  we  read  of  va- 
rious covenants ;  such  as  those 
made  with  Noah,  Abraham,  and 
the  Hebrews  at  large.  Anciently 
covenants  were  made  and  ratified 
with  great  solemnity.  The  scrip- 
tures allude  to  the  cutting  of  ani- 
mals asunder ;  denoting  that,  in 
the  same  manner,  the  perjured  and 
covenant  breaker  should  be  cut 
asunder  by  the  vengeance  of  God, 
Jer.  xxxiv,  18. 

The  covenants  which  more  es- 
pecially relate  to  the  human  race 
are  generally  called  the  cove- 
nant of  works  and  the  covenant 
of  grace. 

The  covenant  of  -works  is  that 
whereby  God  requires  perfect 
obedience  from  his  creatures,  in 
such  a  manner  as  to  make  no  ex- 
press provision  for  the  pardon  of 
offences  committed  against  the 
precepts  of  it  on  the  repentance  of 
such  offenders,  but  pronounces  a 
sentence  of  death  upon  them,  Gen. 
ii.  Gal.  iv,  24.  Ps.  Ixxxix,  3,  4. 
T["he  covenant  of  grace  is  generally 
defined  to  be  that  which  was  made 
with  Christ,  as  the  second  Adam, 
and  in  him  with  all  the  elect  as 
his  seed,  Is.  xlii,  1  to  6.  1st  Pet. 
i,  20.  Is.  lii,  13. 

I.  The  covenant  of  works  was 
made  with  Adam  ;  the  condition 
of  which  was,  his  perseverance 
during  the  whole  time  of  his  pro- 
bation :  the  reward  annexed  to 
this  obedience  was  the  continu- 
ance of  him  and  his  posterity  in 
such  perfect  holiness  and  felicity 
he  then  had  while  upon  earth,  and 
everlastinglife  with  God  hereafter= 


CO  V 


18^ 


GOV 


The  penalty  threatened  for   the 
breach  of  the  command  was  con- 
demnation ;  terminating  in  death 
temporal,    spiritual,  and   eternal. 
The  seals  of  this  covenant  were, 
the   ti-ee  of  knowledge   and  the 
tree   of  life  ;  and,  perhaps,    the 
Sabbath   and    Paradise,  Gen.  ii. 
Gal.  iii.  Gal.ii,  24.  Rom.  v,  13, 19. 
This    covenant    was    broken    by 
Adam's  eating  of  the  forbidden 
fruit,  whereby  he  and  his  posterity 
were  all  subject  to  ruin.  Gen.  iii. 
Rom.  V,  12,  19  ;  and  without  the 
intervention  of  the  Divine  grace 
and  mercy,  would  have  been  lost  for 
ever,  Rom.  iii,  23.     The  Divine 
Being,  foreseeing  this,  in  infinite 
wisdom  and  unspeakable  compas- 
sion planned  the  covenant  of  grace ; 
by  virtue  of  which  his  people  are 
reinstated  in  the  blessings  of  pu- 
rity, knowledge,  and  felicity,  and 
that  without  a  possibility  of  any  | 
farther  defalcation. 

II.  Yht  covenant  of  grace.  Some 
divines  make  a  distinction  between 
the  covenant  of  redemption  and 
that  of  grace  :   the  former,  they 
say,  was  made  with  Christ  in  eter- 
nity J  the  latter  with  believers  in 
time.     Others  object  to  this,  and 
suppose  it  a  needless  distinction ; 
for  there  is  but  one   covenant  of 
grace,  and  not  two,  in  which  the 
head  and  members  are  concerned; 
and,    besides,    the    covenant    of 
grace,    properly   speaking,    could 
not  be  made  between  God   and 
man ;  for  what  can  man  restipu- 
late   with    God,   which  is  in  his 
power  to   do   or  give  him,  and 
which  God  has  not  a  prior  right 
unto  ?     Fallen  man    has    neither 
inclination    to     yield    obediepcc, 
nor  power  to   pei'form   it.     The 
parties^    therefore^    in    this    cove- 
VoL.  I.  B  b 


nant  are  generally  said  to  be  the 
Father    and   the   Son ;    but  Dr. 
Gill  supposes  that  the  Holy  Ghost 
should    not    be   excluded,    since 
he  is  promised  in  it,  and,  in  con- 
sequence of  it,  is  sent  down  into 
the  hearts  of  believers ;  and  which 
must  be  by  agreement,  and  with 
his  consent.     If  we  believe,  there- 
fore,   in   a   Trinity,    it   is    more 
proper  to  suppose  that  they  were 
all   engaged  in  this  plan   of  the 
covenant,    than  to   suppose    that 
the   Father   and    Son    were    en- 
gaged exclusive  of  the  Holy  Spi- 
rit, 1  St  John  V,  6,  7.     As  to  the 
work  of  the  Son,  it  was  the  will 
and  appointment  of   the    Father 
that  he   should  take  the  charge 
and  care  of  his  people,  John  vi, 
39.  Heb.  ii,  13.  redeem  them  by 
his  blood,   John  xvii.     Heb.    x. 
obey  the  law  in  their  room,  Rom. 
X,  4.  justify  them  by  his  righte- 
ousness,   Dan.    ix,  24,  &c.  and, 
finally,    preserve   them  to  ^lory, 
Isa.  xl,  11.    Jesus  Christ,  accord- 
ing to  the  divine  purpose,  became 
the   representative   and    covenant 
head  of  his  people,  Eph.  i,  22,  23. 
Col.  i,  18.     They  were  all  con- 
sidered in  him,  and  represented 
by  him,  Eph.  i,  4.  promises  cf 
grace  and  glor}'^  made  to  them  in 
him,  Tit.  i,  2.  1st  Cor.  i,  20.  he 
suffered  in  their  stead,  2d  Cor.  v, 

21.  He  is  also  to  be  considered 
as  the  mediator  of  the  covenant 
by  whom  justice  is  satisfied,  and 
man  reconciled  to  God.  See  art. 
Mediator.  He  is  also  the 
surety  of  this  covenant,  Heb.  vii, 

22,  as  he  took  the  whole  debt 
upon  him,  freed  his  people  from 
the  charge,  obeyed  the  huv,  and 
engaged  to  bring  his  people  to 
glory,  Heb,  ii,  13:  Isa.  xlix,  5,  6. 


GOV 


186- 


GOV 


He.  is  called  the  testator  of  the 
covenant,  which  is  denominated  a 
Testament,  Heb.  vii,  22.  Heb.  ix, 
15.  He  disposes  of  his  blessings 
according  to  his  will  or  testament, 
which  is  unalterable,  signed  by 
his  hand,  and  sealed  by  l^s  blood. 
In  this  covenant,  as  we  before 
observed,  the  Holy  Spirit  also  is 
engaged.  His  assent  is  given  to 
every  part  thereof:  he  brings  his 
people  into  the  enjoyment  of  its 
blessings,  1st  Pet.  i,  2.  2d  Thess. 
ii,  13.  He  was  concerned  in 
the  incarnation  of  Christ,  Matt,  i, 
18.  and  assisted  his  human  nature, 
Heb.  ix,  14.  He  takes  of  the 
things  of  Christ,  and  shews  them 
unto  us ;  cleanses,  enlightens,  sanc- 
tifies, establishes,  and  comforts  his 
people,  according  to  the  plan  of 
the  covenant,  Rom.  viii,  15,  16. 
See  Holy  Ghost. 

in.  The  properties  of  this  cove- 
nant are  such  as  these  :  1.  It  is 
eternal,  being  made  before  time, 
Eph.  i,  3,  4.  2d  Tim.  i,  9 — 2. 
Divine  as  to  its  origin,  springing 
entirely  from  free  grace,  Rom.  xi, 
5,  6.  Ps.  Ixxxix,  2,  3,  28. — 3.  It 
is  absolute  and  unconditional, 
Eph.  ii,  8,  9. — 4.  It  is  perfect  and 
complete,  wanting  nothing,  2d 
Sam.  xxiii,  5. — 5.  It  is  sure  and 
Immoveable,  Isa.  iivj  10.  Isa.  Iv,  3. 
— 6.  Called  new  in  opposition  to 
the  old,  and  as  its  blessings  will 
be  always  new,  Heb.  viii,  6,  3. 

IV.  These  Ivoo  covenanis  ahove- 
vient'ioned  agree  in  some  things^  in 
others  they  differ.  1.  "In  both," 
says  Witsius,  *'  the  parties  con- 
cerned are  God  and  man. — -2.  In 
both,  the  same  promise  of  eternal 
life. — 3.  The  condition  of  both  is 
the  same  perfect  obedience  to  the 


law  prescribed  ;  for  it  is  not  wor- 
thy of  God  to  admit  man  to  a 
blessed  communion  with  him  but 
in  the  way  of  holiness. — -4.  In 
both  is  the  same  end,  the  glory 
of  God.  But  they  differ  in  the 
foliovv'ing  respects  :  1.  In  the  co- 
venant of  works,  the  character  or 
relation  of  God  is  that  of  a  su- 
preme lawgiver,  and  the  chief 
good  rejoicing  to  communicate 
happiness  to  his  creatures.  In 
the  covenant  of  grace  he  appears 
as  infinitely  merciful,  adjudging 
life  to  the  elect  sinner,  agreeably 
to  his  wisdom  and  justice. — 2.  In 
the  covenant  of  works  there  was 
no  mediator :  the  covenant  of 
grace  has  a  mediator,  Christ. — 
3.  In  the  covenant  of  works, 
the  condition  of  perfect  obedi- 
ence was  required  to  be  perform- 
ed hj  man  himself  in  covenant. 
In  the  covenant  of  grace  the 
same  condition  is  proposed,  but 
to  be  performed  by  a  mediator. 
— 4.  In  the  covenant  of  works 
man  Is  considered  as  working,  and 
tlie  reward,  as  to  be  given  of  debt. 
In  the  covenant  of  grace  the  man 
in  covenant  is  considered  as  be- 
lieving ;  eternal  life  being  given  as 
the  merit  of  the  mediator,  out  of 
free  grace,  which  excludes  all 
boasting. — 5.  In  the  covenant  of 
works  something  is  required  as  a 
condition,  which,  being  perform- 
ed, entitles  to  reward.  The  co- 
venant of  grace  consists  not  of 
conditions,  but  of  promises  :  the 
life  to  be  obtained;  faith,  by  which 
we  are  made  partakers  of  Christ ; 
perseverance,  and,  in  a  word,  the 
whole  of  salvation,  are  absolutely 
promised. — G.  The  special  end  of 
thdl-covcnant   of   works  was  the 


GOV 


187 


GOV 


manifestation  of  the  holiness,  good- 
ness, and  justice  of  God ;  but 
the  special  end  of  the  covenant  of 
grace  is  the  praise  of  the  glory  of 
his  .grace,  and  the  revelation  of 
his  unsearchable  and  manifold 
wisdom." — 7.  The  covenant  of 
works  was  only  for  a  time,  but 
the  covenant  of  grace  stands  sure 
for  ever. 

V.  The  administration  of  the 
covenant  of  grace. — The  covenant 
of  grace,  under  the  Old  Testa- 
ment, was  exhibited  by  promises, 
sacrifices,  types,  ordinances,  and 
prophecies.  Under  the  New,  it 
is  administered  in  the  preaching 
of  the  gospel,  baptism,  and  the 
Lord's  supper ;  in  which  grace 
and  salvation  are  held  forth  in 
more  fulness,  evidence,  and  effi- 
cacy to  all  nations,  2d  Cor.  iii,  6 
to  18.  Heb.  viii.  Matt,  xxviii,  19, 
20.  But  in  both  periods,  the  me- 
diator, the  whole  substance,  bless- 
ings, and  manner  of  obtaining  an 
interest  therein  by  faith,  are  the 
very  same,  without  any  difference, 
Heb.  xi,  6.  Gal.  iii,  7,  14.  The 
reader  who  may  wish  to  have  a 
more  enlarged  view  of  this  subject 
may  peruse  Witsius^  Strongs  or 
Boston  on  the  Covenants^  in  the 
former  of  which  especially  he  will 
find  the  subject  masterly  handled. 

Covenant,  in  ecclesiastical  his- 
tory, denotes  a  contract  or  con- 
vention agreed  to  by  the  Scotch, 
in  the  year  1638,  for  maintaining 
their  religion  free  from  innova- 
tion. In  1581,  the  general  as- 
sembly of  Scotland  drew  up  a 
confession  of  faith,  or  national 
covenant,  condemning  episcopal 
government,  under  the  nam^  of 
hierarchxj^  which   was  signed  by 


James  I,  and  which  he  enjoined 
on  all  his  subjects.  It  was  again 
subscribed  in  1590  and  1596. 
The  subscription  was  renewed  in 
1638,  and  the  subscribers  engaged 
by  oath  to  maintain  religion  in 
the  same  state  as  it  was  in  1580, 
and  to  reject  all  innovations  in- 
troduced since  that  time.  This 
oath,  annexed  to  the  confession  of 
faith,  received  the  name  of  the 
Covenant^  as  those  who  subscribed 
it  were  called  Covenanters. 

Solemn  league  and  covenant,  was 
established  in  the  year  1643,  and 
formed  a  bond  of  union  between 
Scotland  and  England.  It  was 
sworn  to  and  subscribed  by  many 
in  both  nations  ;  who  hereby  so- 
lemnly abjured  popery  and  pre- 
lacy, and  combined  together  for 
their  mutual  defence.  It  was  ap- 
proved by  the  parliament  and  as- 
sembly at  Westminster,  and  rati- 
fied by  the  general  assembly  of 
Scotland  in  1645.  King  Charles  I 
disapproved  of  it  when  he  sur- 
rendered himself  to  the  Scots 
army  in  1646;  but,  in  1650, 
Charles  II  declared  his  approba- 
tion both  of  this  and  the  national 
covenant  by  a  solemn  oath  ;  and, 
in  August  of  the  same  year,  made 
a  farther  declaration  at  Dunferm- 
line to  the  same  purpose,  which 
was  also  renewed  on  occasion  of 
his  coronation  at  Scone,  in  1651. 
The  covenant  v/as  ratified  by  par- 
liament in  this  year ;  and  the 
subscription  of  it  was  required  by 
every  member,  without  which 
the  constitution  of  the  parliament 
was  declared  null  and  void.  It 
produced  a  series  of  distractions 
in  tlie  subsequent  history  of  that 
country,  and  was  voted  illegal  by 


GOV 


188 


cou 


parliament,   and  provision  made 
against  It.    Stat.  14  Car.  II,  c.  4. 
COVETOUS  NESS,  an  unrea- 
sonable desire  after  that  we  have 
not,   with   a   dissatisfaction   with 
what  we  have.    It  may  farther  be 
considered  as  consisting  in,  1.  An 
anxious   carlcing   care   about  the 
things  of  this  world.' — 2.  A  rapa- 
city in  getting. — 3.  Too  frequent- 
ly includes  sinister  and  illegal  ways 
of  obtaining  wealth. — 4.   A  tena- 
ciousness  in  keeping.      It  is  a  vice 
which  marvellously  prevails  upon 
and  insinuates    into  the  heart  of 
man,  and  for  these  reasons  :  it  of- 
ten bears  a  near  resemblance  to 
virtue  ;  brings  with  it  many  plau- 
sible reasons  ;  and  raises  a  man  to 
a  state  of  reputation  on  account  of 
Ills  riches.  "  There  cannot  be,"  as 
one  observes,  "  a  more  unreason- 
able sin  than  this..     It  is  unjust ; 
only  to  covet,  is  to  wish  to  be  un- 
just.    It   is  cruel;    the    covetous 
must  harden  themselves  against  a 
thousand  plaintive  voices.     It  is 
ungrateful ;  such  forget  their  for- 
mer obligations  and  their  present 
supporters.     It.  is  foolish  ;  it  des- 
troys reputation,  breaks  the  rest, 
unfits  for  the  performance  of  duty, 
and  is  a  contempt  of  God  himself : 
it  is  unprecedented  in  ail  our  exam- 
ples of  virtue    mentioned   in   the 
scripture.  One,  indeed,  spoke  un- 
advisedly with   his  lips ;    another 
cursed  and  svvroi-e  ;  a  third  was  in  a 
passion  ;  and  a  fourth  committed 
adultery;  but  which  of  the  saints 
ever  lived  in  a  habit  of  covetous- 
ness  ?  Lastly,  it  is  idolatry^  Col. 
iii,   5.  the  idolatry  of  the  heart; 
where,  as  in  a  temple,  th'e  misera- 
ble wretch  excludes  God,  sets  up 
gold  instead  of  him,  and  places  that 


confidence  in  it  which  belongs  td 
the  Great  Supreme  alone."  Let 
those  who  live  in  the  habitual  prac- 
tice of  it  consider  the  judgments 
that  have  been  inflicted  on  such 
characters,  Josh,  vii,  21.  Acts  v. 
the  misery  with  which.it  is  attend- 
ed ;  the  curse  such  persons  are  to 
society ;  the  denunciations  and 
cautions  respecting  it  in  the  holy 
scripture  ;  and  how  effectually  it 
bars  naen  from  God,  from  happi- 
ness, and  from  heaven.  South*s 
Serin. ^  vol.  iv,  ser.  10 ;  Robinson^ s 
Mor,  Exercises.,  ex.  iv ;  Saurin's 
Sernu,  vol.  v,'ser.  12,  Engl.  Trans. 
COUNCIL,  an  assembly  of  per- 
sons met  together  for  the  purpose 
of  consultation;  an  assembly  of  de- 
puties or  commissioners  sent  from 
several  churches,  associated  by 
certain  bonds  in  a  general  body, 
Acts  i.  Acts  vi.  Acts  xv.  Acts  xxi. 
Council,  Ecumenical  or  Gene- 
ral, is  an  assembly  which  represent* 
the  whole  body  of  the  christian 
church.  The  Romanists  reckon 
eighteen  of  them,  Bullingersix,Dr. 
Prideaux  seven,  and  bishop  Beve- 
ridge  eight ;  which  he  says  are  all 
the  general  councils  which  have 
ever  been  held  since  the  time  of 
the  first  christian  emperor.  They 
are  as  follow  : — 1.  The  council 
of  Nice,  held  in  the  reign  of 
Constantine  the  Great,  on  ac- 
count of  the  heresy  of  Arius* 
— 2.  The  council  of  Constanti- 
nople, called  under  the  reign  and 
by  the  command  of  Theodosius 
the  Great,  for  much  the  same 
end  that  the  former  council  was 
summoned. — 3.  The  council  of 
Ephesus,  convened  by  Theodosius 
the  Younger,  at  the  suit  of  Nes- 
torius. — 4.  The  council  at  Chal- 


cou 


189 


COU 


eedon,  held  in  the  reign  of  Mar- 
tianus,  which  approved  of  the 
Eutychian  heresy. — 5.  The  se- 
cond council  of  Constantinople, 
assembled  by  the  emperor  Jus- 
tinian, condemned  the  three  chap- 
ters taken  out  of  the  book  of  Theo- 
dorus,  of  Mopsuestia,  having  first 
decided  that  it  was  lawful  to  ana- 
thematize the  dead.  Some  authors 
tell  us  that  they  liker/ise  con- 
demned the  several  errors  of  Ori- 
gen  about  the  Trinity,  the  plurali- 
ty of  worlds,  and  pre-existence  of 
souls. — 6.  The  thiid  council  of 
Constantinople,  held  by  the  com- 
mand of  Constantius  Pogonatus, 
the  emperor,  in  which  they  re- 
ceived the  definitions  of  the  five 
first  general  councils,  and  parti- 
cularly that  against  Origen,  and 
Theodorus,  of  Mopsuestia. — 7. 
The  second  Nicene  council. — 8. 
The  fourth  council  of  Constan- 
tinople, assembled  when  Louis  II 
was  emperor  of  the  West.  Their 
regulations  are  contained  in  twen- 
ty-seven canons,  the  heads  of 
which  the  reader  may  find  in 
Dupin.  Whatever  may  be  said 
in  favour  of  general  councils,  their 
utility  has  been  doubted  by  some 
of  the  wisest  of  men.  Dr.  Jortin 
says,  "  they  have  been  too  much 
extolled  by  Papists,  and  by  some 
Protestants.  They  were  a  col- 
lection of  men  who  were  frail  and 
fallible.  Some  of  those  councils 
were  not  assemblies  of  pious  and 
learned  divines,  but  cabals,  the 
majority  of  which  were  quarrel- 
some, fanatical,  domineering,  dis- 
honest prelates,  who  wanted  to 
compel  men  to  approve  all  their 
opinions,  of  which  they  themselves 
had  no  clear  conceptions,  and  to 


anathematize  and  oppress  thoss 
who  would  not  implicitly  submit 
to  their  determinations."  yortin!% 
Works,  vol.  vii,  charge  2  ;\B rough- 
ton's  Diet. ;  Mosheini's  EccL  H'lst,^ 
Index. 

Councils,  Provincial  or  Occa- 
sional,  have  been  numerous.  At 
Aix  la  Chapelle,  A.  D.  S16,  a 
council  was  held  for  regulating 
the  canons  of  cathedral  churches. 
The  council  of  Savonnieries,  in 
859,  was  the  first  v/hich  gave  the 
title  of  Most  Christian  Xing  to  the 
king  of  France;  but  it  did  not 
become  the  peculiar  appellation 
of  that  sovereign  till  1469.  Of 
Troves,  in  887,  to  decide  the 
disputes  about  the  imperial  dig- 
nity. The  second  council  of 
Troyes,  llO/,  restrains  the  clergy 
from  marrying.  The  council  of 
Clermont,  in  1095.  The  first  cru- 
sade was  determined  in  this  coun- 
cil. The  Bishops  had  yet  the  pre- 
cedency of  cardinals.  In  this  as- 
sennbly  the  name  of  Pope  was  for 
the  first  time  given  to  the  head  of 
the  church,  exclusively  of  the 
bishops,  who  used  to  assume  that 
title.  Here,  also,  Hugh,  arch- 
bishop of  Lyons,  obtained  of  the 
pope  a  confirmation  of  the  prima- 
cy of  his  see  over  that  of  Sens. 
The  councilpfRheims,  summon- 
ed by  Eugenius  III,  in  1148,  call- 
ed an  assembly  of  Cisastrian  Gaul, 
in  which  advowses,  or  patrons  of 
churches,  are  prohibited  taking 
more  than  ancient  fees,  upon  pain 
of  deprivation  and  ecclesiastical 
burial.  Bishops,  deacons,  sub- 
deacons,  monks,  and  nuns,  are 
restrained  from  marrying.  In 
this  council  the  doctrine  of  the 
Trinity  was   decided  ;   but  upon 


cou 


190 


CRE 


separation  the  pope  called  a  con- 
gregation, in  which  the  cardinals 
pretended  they  had  no  right  to 
judge  of  doctrinal  points  ;  that 
this  was  the  privilege  peculiar  to 
the  pope.  The  council  of  Sut- 
rium,  in  1046,  wherein  three 
popes  who  had  assumed  the  chair 
v/ere  deposed.  The  council  of 
Clarendon  in  England,  against 
Becket,  held  in  1164.  The  coun- 
cil of  Lombez,  in  the  country  of  j 
Albigeois,  in  1200,  occasioned  by 
some  disturbances  on  account  of 
the  Albigenses :  a  crusade  was 
formed  on  this  account,  and  an 
crmy  sent  to  extirpate  them. 
Innocent  III  spirited  up  this  bar- 
barous war,  Dominic  was  the 
apostle,  the  count  of  Toulouse  the 
victim,  and  Simon,  count  of  Mont- 
fort,  the  conductor  or  chief.  The 
council  of  Paris  in  1210,  in  which 
Aristotle's  metaphysics  were  con- 
demned to  the  flames,  lest  the 
refinements  of  that  philosopher 
should  have  a  bad  tendency  on 
men's  minds,  by  applying  those 
subjects  to  religion.  The  council 
of  Pisa,  begun  March  the  2d, 
1409,  in  which  Benedict  XIII  and 
Gregory  XII  were  deposed.  An- 
other council,  sometimes  called 
general,  held  at  Pisa  in  1505. 
Lev/is  Xil,  of  France,  assembled 
a  national  council  at  Tours  (being 
highly  disgusted  with  the  pope), 
1510,  where  was  present  the  cardi- 
nal De  Gurce,  .  eputed  by  the  em- 
peror; and  it  was  then  agreed  to 
convene  a  general  council  at  Pisa. 
Mnrraifs  History  of  Religion. 

Council  of  Trent.  See  Trent. 

COURAGE  is  that  quality  of 
the  mind  that  enables  men  to  en- 


counter difficulties,  and  dangers. 
Natural  courage  is  that  which 
arises  chiefly  from  constitution  ; 
moral  or  spiritual  is  that  which  ie 
produced  from  principle,  or  a 
sense  of  duty.  Courage  and  for- 
titude are  often  used  as  synony- 
mous, but  they  may  be  distin- 
guished thus  :  fortitude  is  firmness 
of  mind  that  supports  pain  ;  cou- 
rage is  active  fortitude,  that  meets 
dangers,  and  attempts  to  repel 
them.  See  Fortitude.  Courage, 
says  Addison,  that  grows  from  con- 
stitution, very  often  forsakes  a 
man  when  he  has  occasion  for  it ; 
and  when  it  is  only  a  kind  of  in- 
stinct in  the  soul,  it  breaks  out  on 
all  occasions,  without  judgment  or 
discretion  ;  but  that  courage  which 
arises  fi'om  a  sense  of  duty,  and 
from  a  fear  of  offending  Him  that 
made  us,  always  acts  in  an  uniform 
manner,  and  according  to  the  dic- 
tates of  right  reason. 

CREATION,  in  its  primary 
import,  signifies  the  bringing  into 
being  something  which  did  not 
before  exist.  The  term  is  there- 
fore most  generally  applied  to  the 
original  production  of  the  mate- 
rials whereof  the  visible  world  is 
com.posed.  It  is  also  used  in  a 
secondary  or  subordinate  sense  to 
denote  those  subsequent  operations 
of  the  Deity  upon  the  matter  so 
produced,  by  v/hich  the  whole 
system  of  Nature,  and  all  the  pri- 
mitive genera  of  things,  receive 
their  form,  qualities,  and  laws. 

There  is  no  subject  concerning 
which  learned  men  have  differed 
in  their  conjectures  more  than  in 
this  of  creation.  "  It  is  certain," 
as  a  good  writer  obsen/es,  "  that 


CRE 


191 


CRE 


none  of  the  ancient  philosophers 
had  the  smallest  idea  of  its  being 
possible  to  produce  a  substance 
out  of  nothing,  or  that  even  the 
power  of  the  Deity  himself  could 
work  without  any  materials  to 
■\Vork  upon.  Hence  some  of 
them,  among  M^hom  vfas  Aristotle, 
asserted  that  the  world  was  eter- 
nal, both  as  to  its  matter  and 
form.  Others,  though  they  be- 
lieved that  the  gods  had  given  the 
world  its  form,  yet  imagined  the 
materials  v/hereof  it  is  compos- 
ed to  have  been  eternal.  Indeed, 
the  opinions  of  the  ancients,  who 
had  not  the  benefit  of  revelation, 
were  on  this  head  so  confused  and 
contradictory,  that  nothing  of  any 
consequence  can  be  deduced  from 
them.  The  freethinkers  of  our 
own  and  of  former  ages  have  deni- 
ed the  possibility  of  creation,  as  be- 
ing a  contradiction  to  reason  ; 
and  of  consequence  have  taken 
the  opportunity  from  thence  to 
discredit  revelation.  On  the 
other  hand,  many  defenders  of 
the  sacred  writings  have  asserted 
that  creation  out  of  nothing,  so 
far  from  being  a  contradiction  to 
reason,  is  not  only  probable,  but 
demonstrably  certain.  Nay,  some 
have  gone  so  far  as  to  say,  that, 
from  the  very  inspection  of  the 
visible  system  of  Nature,  we  are 
able  to  infer  that  it  was  once  in 
a  state  of  non-existence."  It  is 
impossible,  however,  to  enter  into 
the  multiplicity  of  the  arguments 
on  both  sides  ;  it  is  enough  for  us 
to  know  what  God  has  been 
pleased  to  reveal,  both  concern- 
ing himself  and  the  works  of  his 
hands.  "  Men,  and  other  ani- 
mals  that  inhabit  the   earth  and  1 


the  seas;  all  the  immense' varieties 
of  herbs  and  plants  of  which  the 
vegetable  kingdom  consists ;  the 
globe  of  the  earth,  and  the  ex- 
panse of  the  ocean-;  these  vv^e 
know  to  have  been  produced  by 
his  power.  Besides  the  terrestrial 
world,  which  we  inhabit,  we  see 
many  other  material  bodies  dis- 
posed around  it  in  the  wide  ex- 
tent of  space.  The  moofi,  which 
is  in  a  particular  manner  con- 
nected with  our  earth,  and  even 
dependent  upon  it ;  the  sun,  and 
the  other  planets,  with  their  sa- 
tellites, which  like  the  earth  cir- 
culate round  the  sun,  and  appear 
to  derive  from  him  light  and 
heat ;  those  bodies  which  we  call 
fixed  stars,  and  consider  as  illu- 
minating and  cherishing  v/ith  heat 
each  its  peculiar  system  of  planets; 
and  the  comets  which  at  certain 
periods  surprise  us  with  their  ap- 
pearance, and  the  nature  of  whose 
connexion  wdth  the  general  sys- 
tem of  Nature,  or  with  any  parti- 
cular system  of  planets,  we  cannot 
pretend  to  have  fully  discovered ; 
these  are  so  many  more  of  the 
Deity's  works,  from  the  contem- 
plation of  which  we  cannot  but 
conceive  the  most  awful  ideas  of 
his  creative  power. 

"  Matter,  however,  whatever  the 
varieties  of  form  under  which  it  is 
made  to  appear,  the  relative  dis- 
position of  its  parts,  or  the  mo- 
tions communicated  to  it,  is  but 
an  inferior  part  of  the  works  of 
creation.  We  believe  ourselves  to 
be  animated  with  a  much  higher 
principle  than  brute  matter :  in 
viewing  the  manners  and  oeconomy 
of  the  lower  animals,  we  can  scarce 
avoid  acknowledging  even  them  to 


E 


192 


CRE 


consist  of  something  more  than  va- 
rious modifications  of  matter  and 
motion.  The  other  planetary  bo- 
dies, which  seem  to  be  in  circum- 
stances nearly  analogous  to  those 
of  our  earth,  are  surely,  as  well 
as  it,  destined  for  the  habitations 
of  rational  intelligent  beings.  The 
existence  of  intelligences  of  an 
higher  order  than  man,  though  in- 
finitely below  the  Deity,  appears 
extremely  probable.  Of  these  spi- 
ritual beings,  called  angels^vreh^ye 
express  intimation  in  scripture 
(see  the  article  Angel).  But  the 
limits  of  the  creation  we  must  not 
pretend  to  define.  How  far  the  re- 
gions of  space  extend,  or  how  they 
are  filled,  we  know  not.  How  the 
planetary  worlds,  the  sun,  and  the 
fixed  stars  are  occupied,  we  do  not 
pretend  to  have  ascertained.  We 
are  even  ignorant  how  wide  a 
diversity  of  forms,  what  an  infi- 
nity of  living  animated  beings  may 
inhabit  our  own  globe.  So  con- 
fined is  our  knowledge  of  creation, 
yet  so  grand,  so  awful,  that  part 
which  our  narrow  understandings 
can  comprehend ! 

"  Concerning  the  periods  of  time 
at  which  the  Deity  executed  his 
several  works,  it  cannot  be  pre- 
tended that  mankind  have  had  op- 
portunities of  receiving  very  par- 
ticular information.  Many  have 
been  the  conjectures,  and  curious 
the  fancies  of  learned  men,  re- 
specting it ;  but,  after  all,  we  must 
be  indebted  to  the  sacred  writings 
for  the  best  information.  Dif- 
ferent copies,  indeed,  give  dif- 
ferent dates.  The  Hebrew  copy 
of  the  Bible,  which  w^e'  christians, 
for  good  reasons,  consider  as  the 
most  authentic,    dates   the   crea- 


tion of  the  world  3944  years  be- 
fore the  christian  era.     The  Sa- 
maritan  Bible,    again,    fixes  the 
era  of  the  creation  4305  years  be- 
fore the  birth  of  Christ.     And  the 
Greek  translation,  known  by  the 
name  of  the  Septuagint  version  of 
the  Bible,  gives  5270  as  the  num- 
ber of  the  years  which  intervened 
between  those  two  periods.     By 
comparing  the  various  dates  in  the 
sacred  writings,    examining  how 
these  have  come  to  disagree,  and 
to  be  diversified  in  different  copies ; 
endeavouring  to  reconcile  the  most 
authentic     profane     with    sacred 
chronology,  some  ingenious  men 
have  formed  schemes  of  chrono- 
logy ;  plausible,    indeed,  but  not 
supported    by   sufficient    authori- 
ties, which  they  would  gladly  per- 
suade us  to  receive  in  preference 
to  any  of  those  above  mentioned. 
Usher  makes  out  from  the  He- 
brew  Bible   4004   years    as    the 
term  between  the  creation  and  the 
birth  of    Christ.      Josephus,    ac- 
cording to    Dr.    Wills   and   Mr. 
Whiston,  makes  it  4658  years  ; 
and   M.    Pezron,   with   the  help 
of    the    Septuagint,     extends    it 
to   5872  years.     Usher's  system 
is   the  most   generally    received. 
But  though  these  different  systems 
of  chronology  are  so  inconsistent, 
and  so  slenderly  supported,  yet  the 
differences  among  them  are  so  in- 
considerable, in  comparison  with 
those  which  arise  before  us  when 
we  contemplate  the  chronology  of 
the  Chinese,  the  Chaldeans,  and 
the  Egyptians,  and  they  agree  so 
well  with  the  general  information 
of  authentic  history,  and  with  the 
appearances  of  nature  and  of  so- 
ciety, that  they  may  be  considered 


cSe 


193 


C  R  E 


afe'  nearly  fixing  the  true  period 
of  the  creation  of  the  earth."  Un- 
certain, however,  as  we  may  be 
as  to  the  exact  time  of  the  crea- 
tion, we  may  profitably  apply  our- 
selves to  the  contemplation  of 
this  immense  fabric.  Indeed,  the 
beautiful  and  multiform  works 
around  us  must  strike  the  mind  of 
every  beholder  with  wonder  and 
admiration,  unless  he  be  enve- 
loped in  ignorance,  and  chained 
down  to  the  earth  with  sensuality. 
These  works  every  way  proclaim 
the  wisdom,  the  power,  and  the 
goodness  of  the  Creator.  Crea- 
tion is  a  book  which  the  nicest 
philosopher  may  study  with  the 
deepest  attention.  Unlike  the 
works  of  art,  the  more  it  is  examin- 
ed, the  more  it  opens  to  us  sources 
of  admiration  of  its  great  Avithor; 
the  more  it  calls  for  our  inspec- 
tion, and  the  more  it  demands 
our  praise.  Here  every  thing  is 
adjusted  in  the  exactest  order;  all 
answering  the  wisest  ends,  and  act- 
ing according  to  the  appointed 
laws  of  Deity.  Here  the  christian 
ii^  led  into  the  most  delightful 
field  of  contemplation.  To  him 
every  pebble  becomes  a  preacher, 
and  every  atom  a  step  by  which 
he  ascends  to  his  Creator.  Placed 
in  this  beautiful  temple,  and  look- 
ing around  on  all  its  various  parts, 
he  cannot  help  joining  with  the 
Psalmist  in  saying,  "  O  Lord,  how 
manifold  are  thy  works  ;  in  wis- 
dom hast  thou  made  them  all !" 

See  Ray  and  Blachnore  on 
Creation ;  art.  Creation,  Enc. 
Brit. ;  Derhani's  Astro  andPhysico- 
theology ;  Hervcy^s  Meditations; 
La    Pluche's    Nature    dispiaijed ; 

Vol.  I.  *Cc 


Sturm^s  Reflections  on  the  tVorlks 
of  God. 

CREDULITY,  the  belief  of 
any  proposition  without  sufficient 
evidence  of  its  truth. 

CREP2D,  a  form  of  words  in; 
which  the  articles  of  faith  are  com- 
prehended.    See  Confession. 

The  most  ancient  form  of  creeds 
is  that  which  goes  under  the  name 
of  the  Apostles'  Creed  (see  be- 
low) ;  besides  this,  there  are  se- 
veral other  ancient  forms  and 
scattered  remains  of  creeds  to  be 
met  with  in  the  primitive  record^ 
of  the  church ;  as,  1 .  TTie  forni 
of  apostolical  doctrine  collected  by 
Origen.— 2.  A  fragment  of  a  creed 
preserved  by  TertuUian. — 3.  A 
remnant  of  a  creed  in  the  works 
of  Cyprian.— 4.  A  creed  com-r 
posed  by  Gregory  Thaumaturgus 
for  the  use  of  his  own  church. — 5. 
The  creed  of  Lucian,  the  martyr. 
— 6.  The  creed  of  the  apostolical 
constitutions.  Besides  these  scat- 
tered remains  of  the  ancient  creeds, 
there  are  extant  some  perfect 
forms,  as  those  of  Jerusalem,  Ce- 
sarea,  Antioch,  &c. 

CREED,  APOSTLES',  is  a 
formula  or  summary  of  the  chris- 
tian faith,  drawn  up,  according 
to  Ruffinus,  by  the  apostles  them- 
selves ;  who,  during  their  stay  at 
Jerusalem,  soon  after  our  Lord's 
ascension,  agreed  upon  this  creed 
as  a  rule  of  faith.  Baronius  and 
others  conjecture  that  they  did 
not  compose  it  till  the  second  year 
of  Claudius,  a  little  before  their 
dispersion ;  but  there  are  many 
reasons  which  induce  us  to  ques- 
tion whether  the  apostles  com- 
posed any  such  creed.     For,   1. 


CRE 


1?4 


CRE 


Neither  St.  Luke,  nor  any  other 
writer  before  the  fifth  century, 
make  any  mention  of  an  ass,embly 
of  the  apostles  for  composing  a 
creed. — 2i  The  fathers  of  the  three 
first  centuries,  in  disputing  against 
the  heretics,  endeavour  to  prove 
that  the  doctrine  contained  in  this 
creed  was  the  same  which  the 
apostles  taught ;  but  they  never 
pretend  that  the  apostles  com- 
posed it. — 3.  If  the  apostles  had 
made  this  creed,  it  would  have 
fceen  the  same  in  all  churches  and 
in  all  ages  ;  and  all  authors  would 
have  cited  it  after  the  same  man- 
ner. But  the  case  is  quite  other- 
wise. In  the  second  and  third 
ages  of  the  church  there  were  as 
many  creeds  as  authors ;  and  the 
same  author  sets  down  the  creed 
after  a  difl^erent  manner  in  several 
places  of  his  works  ;  which  is  an 
evidence  that  there  was  not,  at 
that  time,  any  creed  reputed  to 
be  the  apostles.  In  the  fourth 
century,  Ruffinus  compares  to- 
gether the  three  ancient  creeds  of 
the  churches  of  Aquileia,  Rome, 
and  the  East,  which  differ  very 
considerably.  Besides,  these  creeds 
aiifered  not  only  in  the  terms  and 
expressions,  but  even  in  the  arti- 
cles, some  of  which  were  omitted 
in  one  or  other  of  them,  such  as 
those  of  the  descent  hito  heiU  the 
communion  of  the  saints^  and  the 
life  everlasting.  From  all  which  it 
may  be  gathered,  that,  though  this 
creed  may  he  said  to  be  that  of 
the  apostles,  in  regard  to  the 
doctrines  contained  therein,  yet  it 
cannot  be  referred  to  them  as  the 
authors  of  it.  Its  great  antiquity, 
however,  may  be  inferred  from 
hence,    that  the   whole  form,    as 


it  now  stands  in  the  English  li- 
turgy, is  to  be  found  in  the  works 
of  St.  Ambrose  and  Rufiinus  ;  the 
former  of  v/hom  flourished  in  the 
third  and  the  latter  in  the  fourth 
century.  The  primitive  chris- 
tians did  not  publicly  recite  the 
creed,  except  at  baptisms,  which, 
unless  in  cases  of  necessity,  were 
only  at  Easter  and  Whitsuntide. 
The  constant  repeating  of  it  was 
not  introduced  into  the  church  till 
the  end  of  the  fifth  century;  about 
which  time  Peter  Gnaphius,  bishop 
of  Antioch,  prescribed  the  recital 
of  it  every  time  divine  service  was 
performed.  Sed  King's  History  of 
the  Apostles^  Creed;  and  BarroixPs 
Exposition  of  it  in  his  JVoris^  vol.  ii. 
CREED,  ATHANASIAN,  a 
formulary  or  confession  of  faith, 
long  supposed  to  have  been  drawn 
up  by  Athanasius,  bishop  of  Alex- 
andria, in  the  fourth  century,  to 
justify  himself  against  the  calum- 
nies of  his  Arian  enenaies  ;  but  it 
is  now  generally  allowed  not  to 
have  been  his.  Dr.  Waterland 
ascribes  it  to  Hilary,  bishop  of 
Aries.  This  creed  obtained  in 
France  about  A.  D.  850,  and  was 
received  in  Spain  and  Germany 
about  180  years  later.  As  to  our 
own  country,  we  have  clear  proofs 
of  its  being  sung  alternately  in 
oui'  churches  in  the  tenth  century. 
It  was  in  common  use  in  some 
parts  of  Italy  in  960,  and  was  re- 
ceived at  Rome  about  1014.  As  to 
the  Greek  and  Oriental  churches, 
it  has  been  questioned  whether  they 
have  ever  received  it,  though  some 
writers  are  of  a  contrary  persua- 
sion. The  episcopal  churches  of 
America  have  rejected  it.  As  to 
the  matter  of  it,  it  is  given  as  a 


CRO 


195 


CRO 


Nummary  of  the  true  orthodox 
faith.  Unhappily,  however,  it  has 
proved  a  fruitful  source  of  unpro- 
fitable controversy.  See  Dr.  Wa- 
terlan(Ps  Critical  History  of  it. 

CREED,  NICE NE,  a  formu- 
lary of  christian  faith  ;  so  called, 
because  it  is  a  paraphrase  of  that 
creed  which  was  made  at  the  first 
general  council  of  Nice.  This 
latter  was  drawn  up  by  the  second 
general  council  of  Constantinople, 
A.  D.  381;  and  therefore  might  be 
more  properly  styled  the  Constan- 
tinopolitan  creed.  The  creed  was 
carried  by  a  majority,  and  ad- 
mitted into  the  church  as  a  bar- 
rier against  Arius  and  his  fol- 
lowers. 

The  three  creeds  above-men- 
tioned are  used  in  the  public  of- 
fices of  the  church  of  England  ; 
and  svibscription  to  thena  is  re- 
quired of  all  the  established  clergy. 
Subscription  to  these  was  also  re- 
quired of  the  dissenting  teachers 
by  the  toleration  act,  but  from 
which  they  are  now  relieved  by 
19  Geo.  III. 

CRIME,  a  voluntary  breach  of 
any  known  law.  Faults  result 
from  human  weakness,  being 
transgressions  of  the  rules  of  duty. 
Crimes  proceed  from  the  wicked- 
ness of  the  heart,  being  actions 
against  the  rules  of  nature.  See 
Punishment  and  Sin. 

CROISADE,  or  Crusade, 
may  be  applied  to  any  war  under- 
taken on  pretence  of  defending  the 
cause  of  religion,  but  has  been 
chiefly  used  for  the  expeditions  of 
the  christians  against  the  infidels 
for  the  conquest  of  Palestine. 

These  expeditions  commenced 
A.  D.  1096.     The  foundation  of 


them  was  a  superstitious  venera- 
tion for  those  places  where  our 
Saviour  performed  his  miracles, 
and  accomplished  the  work  of 
man's  redemption.  Jerusalem  had 
been  taken  and  Palestine  con- 
quered by  Omar.  This  proved  a 
considerable  interruption  to  the 
pilgrims,  who  flocked  from  all 
quarters  to  perform  their  devo- 
tions at  the  holy  sepulchre.  They 
had,  however,  still  been  allowed 
this  liberty,  on  paying  a  small 
tribute  to  the  Saracen  caliphs, 
who  v/ere  not  much  inclined  to 
molest  them.  But,  in  1065,  this 
city  changed  its  masters.  The 
Turks  took  it  froni  the  Saracens  ; 
and  being  much  more  fierce  and 
barbarous,  the  pilgrims  now  found 
they  could  no  longer  perform  their 
devotions  with  the  same  safety. 
An  opinion  was  about  this  time 
also  prevalent  in  Europe,  which 
made  these  pilgrimages  much  more 
frequent  than  formerly :  it  was 
imagined,  that  the  1000  years 
mentioned  in  Revel,  xx.  were  ful- 
filled ;  that  Christ  was  soon  to 
make  his  appearance  in  Palestine 
to  judge  the  world ;  and  conse- 
quently that  journeys  to  that 
country  were  in  the  highest  degree 
meritorious,  and  even  absolutely 
necessary.  The  multitudes  of  pil- 
grims who  now  flocked  to  Pa- 
lestine meeting  with  a  very  rough 
reception  from  the  Turks,  filled 
all  Europe  with  complaints  against 
those  infidels,  who  profaned  the 
holy  city,  and  derided  the  sacred 
mysteries  of  Christianity  even  in 
the  place  where  they  were  fulfilled. 
Pope  Gregory  VII  had  formed  a 
design  of  uniting  all  the  princes 
of  Christendom  against  the  Mahe  • 


CRO 


196 


CRO 


metans ;  but  his  exorbitant  en- 
croachments upon  the  civil  power 
of  princes  had  created  him  so 
jnany  enemies,  and  rendered  his 
schemes  so  suspicious,  that  he  was 
riot  able  to  make  great  progress  in 
jhis  undertaking.  The  work  was 
reserved  for  a  meaner  instrument. 
Peter,  commonly  called  the  Her- 
mit, a  native  of  Amiens  in  Pi- 
cardy,  had  made  the  pilgrimage 
to  Jerusalem  ;  and  being  deeply 
affected  with  the  dangers  to  which 
that  act  of  piety  now  exposed  the 
pilgrims,  as  well  as  widi  the  op- 
pression under  which  the  eastern 
christians  now  laboured,  formed 
the  bold,  and,  in  all  appearance, 
impracticable  design  of  leading 
into  Asia,  from  the  farthest  extre- 
mities of  the  West,  armies  suffi- 
cient to  subdue  those  potent  and 
warlike  nations  that  now  held  the' 
hfOly  land  in  slavery.  He  pro- 
posed his  scheme  to  pope  Martin 
JI,  who,  prudently  resolving  not 
t9  interpose  his  authority  till  he 
saw  a  probability  of  success,  sum- 
moned, at  Placentia,  a  council 
of  4000  ecclesiastics  and  30,000 
seculars.  As  no  hall  could  be 
found  large  enough  to  contain 
such  a  multitude,  the  assembly 
\yas  held  in  a  plain.  Here  the 
pope  himself,  as  well  as  Peter, 
harangued  the  people,  represent- 
ing the  dismal  situation  of  their 
brethren  in  the  East,  and  the  in- 
dignity offered  to  the  christian 
name  in  allowing  the  holy  city  to 
remain  in  the  hands  of  the  infidels. 
These  speeches  were  so  agreeable 
to  those  who  heard  them,  that  the 
whole  multitude  suddenly  and  vio- 
lently declared  for  the  war,  and 
gplcmnly  devoted  themselves  to 


perform  this  service,  which  they 
believed  to  be  meritorious  in  the 
sight  of  God.  Bvit  though  Italy 
seemed  to  have  embraced  the  de- 
sign with  ardour,  Martin  thought 
it  necessary,  in  order  to  ensure 
perfect  success,  to  engage  the 
greater  and  more  warlike  nations 
in  the  same  enterprise.  Having, 
therefore,  exhorted  Peter  to  visit 
the  chief  cities  and  sovereigns  of 
Christendom,  he  summoned  an- 
other council  at  Clermont  in  Au- 
vergne.  The  fame  of  this  great  and' 
pious  design  being  now  universally 
diffused,  procured  the  attendance 
of  the  greatest  prelates,  nobles, 
and  princes  ;  and  when  the  pope 
and  the  hermit  renewed  their  pa- 
thetic exhortations,  the  whole  as- 
sembly, as  if  impelled  by  imme- 
diate inspiration,  exclaimed  with 
one  voice,  "  It  is  the  will  of 
God !"  These  words  were  deemed 
so  much  the  effect  of  a  divine  im- 
pulse, that  they  were  employed 
as  the  signal  of  rendezvous  and 
battle  in  all  future  exploits  of 
these  adventurers.  Men  of  all 
ranks  now  flew  to  arms  with  the 
utmost  ardour,  and  a  cross  was 
affixed  to  their  right  shorlder  by 
all  who  enlisted  in  this  holy  enter- 
prise. At  this  time  Europe  was 
sunk  in  the  most  profound  igno- 
rance and  superstition.  The  eccle- 
siastics had  gained  the  greatest 
ascendant  over  the  human  mind  ; 
and  the  people,  who  committed 
the  most  horrid  crimes  and  disor- 
ders, knew  of  no  other  expiation^ 
than  the  observances  imposed  on 
them  by  their  spiritual  pastors. 
But  amidst  the  abject  superstition 
which  now  prevailed,  the  military 
spirit  had  also  uniyersally  diffused 


GRO 


197 


CRO 


itself ;  find,  though  not  supported 
by  art  or  discipline,  was  become 
the  general  passion  of  the  nations 
governed  by  the  fpudal  law.  All 
the  great  lords  possessed  the  right 
of  peaee  and  war.  They  were 
engaged  in  continual  hostilities 
with  oneanotlier:  the  open  country 
was  become  a  scene  of  outrage 
and  disord[er:  the  cities,  still  mean 
and  poor,  "^ver^  neither  guarded 
by  wal^s  nor  protected  by  privi- 
legC;?.  !pvery  naau  was  obliged  to 
depend  for  safety  on  his  own  force, 
or  his  private  alliances  ;  and  va- 
lour was  the  only  excellence  Avhich 
was  held  in  esteem,  or  gave  one 
naan  the  pre-eminence  above  an- 
other. When  all  the  particular 
superstitions,  therefore,  were  here 
united  in  one  great  object,  the  ar- 
dour for  private  hostilities  took 
the  same  direction  ;  "and  all  Eu- 
rope," as  the  princess  Anna  Com- 
nena  expresses  it,  "  torn  from  its 
foundations,  seemed  ready  to  pre- 
cipitate itself  in  one  united  body 
upon  Asia." 

All  ranks  of  men  now  deeming 
the  croisades  the  only  road  to 
heaven,  were  impatient  to  open 
the  way  with  their  swords  to  the 
holy  city.  Nobles,  artisans,  pea- 
sants, even  priests,  enrolled  their 
names ;  and  to  decline  this  ser- 
vice was  branded  with  the  re- 
proach of  impiety  or  cowardice. 
The  nobles  were  moved,  by  the 
romantic  spirit  of  the  age,  to  hope 
for  opulent  establishments  in  the 
East,  the  chief  scat  of  arts  and 
commerce  at  that  time.  In  pur- 
suit of  these  chimerical  projects, 
they  sold  at  low  prices  their 
ancient  castles  and  inheritances, 
which  had  now  lost  all  value  in 


their  eyes.  The  infirm  and  aged 
contributed  to  the  expedition  by 
presents  and  money,  and  many 
of  them  attended  it  in  person  j 
being  determined,  if  possible,  to 
breathe  their  last  in  sight  of  that 
city  where  their  Saviour  died  for 
them..  Even  women,  concealing 
their  sex  under  the  disguise  of  ar- 
mour, attended  the  camp ;  and 
often  forgot  their  duty  still  more, 
by  prostituting  themselves  to  the 
army.  The  greatest  criminals  were 
forward  in  a  service  .which  they 
considered  as  an  expiation  for  all 
crimes  ;  and  the  most  enormous 
disorders  were,  during  the  course 
of  these  expeditions,  committed 
by  men  inured  to  wickedness,  eur 
couraged  by  example,  and  im- 
pelled by  necessity.  The  adven- 
turers were  at  last  so  numerous, 
that  their  sagacious  leaders  be- 
came appi'ehensive  lest  the  great- 
ness of  the  armament  would  be 
the  cause  of  its  owji  disappoint- 
ment. For  this  reason- they  per- 
mitted an  undisciplined  multitude, 
computed  at  300,000  men,  to  go 
before  them  under  the  command 
of  Peter  the  hermit,  and  Gautier 
or  Walter,  surnamedthe  money  less^ 
from  his  being  a  soldier  of  fortune. 
These  took  the  road  towards  Con- 
stantinople through  Hungary  and 
Bulgaria ;  and  trusting  that  hea- 
ven, by  supernatural  assistance, 
would  supply  all  their  necessitieis, 
thev  made  no  provision  for  sub- 
sistence in  their  march.  They  soon 
found  themselves  obliged  to  ob- 
tain by  plunder  what  they  vainly 
expected  from  miracles  ;  and  the 
enraged  inhabitants  of  the  coun- 
tries through  which  they  passed 
attacked  the  disorderly  multitude, 


CRO 


198 


CRO 


and  slaughtered  them  without  re- 
sistance. The  more  disciplined  ar- 
mies followed  after  ;  and,  passing 
the  straits  of  Constantinople,  were 
mustered  in  the  plains  of  Asia, 
and  amounted  in  the  whole  to 
700,000  men.  The  princes  en- 
gaged in  this  first  croisade  were, 
Hugo,  count  of  Vermandois,  bro- 
ther to  Philip  I,  king  of  France  ; 
Robert,  duke  of  Normandy ;  Ro- 
bert, earl  of  Flanders  ;  Raimond, 
earl  of  Toulouse  and  St.  Giles  ; 
the  celebrated  Godfrey  of  Bou- 
illon, duke  of  Lorrain,  with  his 
brothers  Baldwin  and  Eustace ; 
Stephen,  earl  of  .Charters  and 
Blois  ;  Hugo,  count  of  St.  Paul; 
with  many  other  lords.  The  ge- 
neral rendezvous  was  at  Constan- 
tinople. In  this  expedition,  God- 
frey besieged  and  took  the  city  of 
Nice.  Jerusalem  was  taken  by 
the  confederated  army,  and  God- 
frey chosen  king.  The  Christians 
gained  the  famous  battle  of  As- 
calon  against  the  sultan  of  Egypt, 
which  put  an  end  to  the  first  croi- 
sade, but  not  to  the  spirit  of  croi- 
sading.  The  rage  continued  for 
near  two  centuries.  The  second 
croisade,  in  1 144,  was  headed  by 
the  emperor  Conrad  HI,  and  Louis 
VII,  king  of  France.  The  em- 
peror's army  was  either  destroyed 
by  the  enemy,  or  perished  through 
the  treachery  of  Manuel,  the  Greek 
emperor  ;  and  the  second  army, 
through  the  unfaithfulness  of  the 
christians  of  Svria,  was  forced  to 
break  up  the  siege  of  Damascus. 
The  third  croisade,  in  1188,  im- 
mediately followed  the -taking  of 
Jerusalem  b)'  Saladin,  the  sultan 
of  ^gypt.  The  princes  engaged 
kn  this  expedition  %icre,  the  em- 


peror Frederic  Barbarossa ;  Fre- 
deric, duke  of  Suabia,  his  second 
son ;  Leopold,  duke  of  Austria ; 
Berthold,  duke  of  Moravia ;  Her- 
man, marquis  of  Baden ;  the  counts 
of  Nassau,  Thuringia,  Missen,  and 
Holland ;  and  above  sixty  other 
princes  of  the  empire ;  with  the 
bishops  of  Besan^on,  Cambray, 
Munster,  Osnaburg,  Missen,  Pas- 
sau,  Visburg,  and  several  others. 
In  this  expedition  the  emperor 
Frederic  defeated  the  Sultan  of 
Iconium  :  his  son  Frederic,  joined 
by  Guy  Lusignon,  king  of  Jeru- 
salem, in  vain  endeavoured  to 
take  Acre  or  Ptolemais.  During 
thesetransactions  Philip  Augustus, 
king  of  France,  and  Richard  II, 
king  of  England,  joined  the  croi- 
sade ;  by  which  means  the  chris- 
tian army  consisted  of  300,000 
fighting  men :  but  great  disputes 
happening  between  the  kings  of 
France  and  England,  the  former 
quitted  the  holy  land,  and  Richard 
concluded  a  peace  with  Saladin. 
The  fourth  croisade  was  under- 
taken, in  1195,  by  the  emperor 
Henry  VI,  after  Saladin's  death. 
-In  this  -expedition  the  christians 
gained  several  battles  against  the 
infidels,  took  a  great  many  towns, 
and  were  in  the  way  of  success, 
when  the  death  of  the  emperor 
obliged  them  to  quit  the  holy 
land,  and  return  into  Germany,_^ 
The  fifth  croisade  was  published 
by  pope  Innocent  III,  in  1198. 
Those  engaged  in  it  made  fruitless 
efforts  for  the  recovery  of  the  holy 
land :  for,  though  John  de  Neule, 
who  commanded  the  fleet  equip- 
ped in  Flanders,  arrived  at  Ptole- 
mais a  litde  after  Simon  of  Mont- 
fort,  Renard  -of  Dampierre.   and 


CRO 


19D 


CRO 


others,  yet  the  plague  destroying 
many  of  them,  and  the  rest  either 
returning  or  engaging  in  the  petty 
quarrels  of  the  christian  princes, 
there  was  nothing  done  ;  so  that 
the  sultan  of  Aleppo  easily  de- 
feated their  troops  in  1204.  The 
sixth  croisade  began  in  1228;  in 
which  the  christians  took  the  town 
of  Damietta,  but  were  forced  to 
surrender  it  again.  In  1229,  the 
emperor  Frederic  made  peace 
with  the  sultan  for  ten  years. 
About  1 240,  Richard,  earl  of  Corn- 
wall, brother  to  Henry  III,  king 
of  England,  arrived  in  Palestine, 
at  the  head  of  the  English  croisade; 
but  finding  it  naost  advantageous 
to  conclude  a  peace,  he  re-em- 
barked, and  steered  towards  Italy. 
In  1244,  the  Karasmians  being 
driven  out  of  Persia  by  the  Tartars, 
broke  into  Palestine,  and  gave  the 
christians  a  general  defeat  near 
Gaza.  The  seventh  croisade  was 
headed,  in  1249,  by  St.  Lewis, 
who  took  the  town  of  Damietta : 
but  a  sickness  happening  in  the 
christian  army,  the  king  endea- 
voured a  retreat ;  in  which,  being- 
pursued  by  the  infidels,  most  of 
his  army  were  miserably  butcher- 
ed, and  himself  and  the  nobility 
taken  prisoners.  A  truce  was 
agreed  upon  for  ten  years,  and  the 
king  and  lords  set  at  liberty.  The 
eighth  croisade,  in  1270,  v/as 
headed  by  the  same  prince,  who 
made  himself  master  of  the  port 
and  castle  of  Carthage  in  Africa ; 
but  dying  a  short  time  after,  he 
left  his  army  in  a  very  ill  con- 
dition. Soon  after,  the  king  of 
Sicil}'  coming  up  with  a  good  fleet, 
and  joining  Philip  the  Bold,  son 
»nd  successor  of  Lewis,  king  of 


Tunis,  after  several  engagements 
with  the  christians,  in  which  he 
was  Jilways  worsted,  desired  peace, 
which  was  granted  upon  condi- 
tions advantageous  to  the  chris- 
tians :  after  which  both  princes 
embarked  for  their  own  kingdoms. 
Prince  Edward,  of  England,  who 
arrived  at  Tunis  at  the  time  of 
this  treaty,  sailed  towards  Ptole- 
mais,  where  he  landed  a  small 
body  of  300  English  and  French, 
and  hindered  Bendochar  from  lay- 
ing siege  to  Ptolemais  :  but  being 
obliged  to  return  to  take  posses- 
sion of  the  crown  of  England,  this 
croisade  ended  without  contribut- 
ing any  thing  to  the  recovery  of 
the  holy  land.  In  1291,  the  town 
of  Acre,  or  Ptolemais,  was  taken 
and  plundered  by  the  sultan  of 
Egypt,  and  the  christians  quite 
driven  cut  of  Syria.  There  has 
been  no  croisade  since  that  period, 
though  several  popes  have  at- 
tempted to  stir  up  the  christians 
to  such  an  undertaking;  particu- 
larly Nicholas  IV,  in  1292,  and 
Clement  V,  in  1311. 

Though  these  croisades  were 
effects  of  the  most  absurd  super- 
stition, they  tended  greatly  to  pro- 
mote the  good  of  Europe.  Mul- 
titudes, indeed,  were  destroyed. 
M.  Voltaire  computes  the  people 
who  perished  in  the  diflferent  ex- 
peditions at  upwards  of  two  mil- 
lions. Many  there  were,  however, 
whore'^n'ned;  and  these  having 
conversed  so  long  with  people  who 
lived  in  a  much  more  magnificent 
way  than  themselves,  began  to  en- 
tertain some  taste  for  a  refined 
and  polished  way  of  life.  Thus 
the  barbarism  in  which  Europe 
had  been  so  long  immersed  began 


CRO 


200 


GRO 


to  wear  off  soon  after.  The  princes 
also  who  remained  at  home  found 
means  to  avail  themselves  of  the 
frenzy  of  the  people.  By  the  ab- 
sence of  such  numbers  of  restless 
?i'nd  martial  adventurers,  peace 
■was  established  in  their  dominions. 
They  also  took  the  opportunity  of 
annexing  to  their  crowns  many 
considerable  fiefs,  either  by  pur- 
chase, or  the  extinction  of  the 
heirs;  and  thus  the  mischiefs  which' 
rjiust  always  attend  feudal  govern- 
rttents  were  considerably  lessened. 
With  regard  to  the  bad  success  of 
the  croisaders,  it  was  scarce  pos- 
sible that  any  other  thing  couid 
happen  to  them.  The  emperors 
of  Constantinople,  instead  of  as- 
sisting, did  all  in  their  power  to 
disconcert  their  schemes  :  they 
were  jealous,  and  not  without  rea- 
son, of  such  an  inundation  of  barba- 
rians. Yet,  had  they  considered 
their  true  interest,  they  Avould  ra- 
ther have  assisted  them,  or  at  least 
stood  neuter,  than  entered  into  al- 
liances with  the  Turks.  They  fol- 
io v»'ed  the  latter  method,  however, 
aiid  v/ere  often  of  very  great  dis- 
service to  the  western  adventurers, 
wiiich  at  last  occasioned  the  loss  of 
th<^ir  city.  But  the  worst  enemies 
the  croisaders  had  v/ere  their  own 
infernal  feuds  and  dissensions. 
They  neither  could  agree  "vvhile 
ih arching  together  in  armies  with  a 
view  to  conquest,  nor  could  they 
unite  their  conquests  undt  one  go- 
vernment after  they  had  made 
them.  They  set  up  three  small 
states,  one  at  Jerusalem, another  at 
Antioch,  and  another  at  Edessa, 
These  states,  instead  of  assisting, 
made  war  upon  each  other,  and  on 
thci  Greek  emperors ;  and  thus  be- 


cairie  M  eagy  p'Tey  to'the  coffimoft 
enemy.  The  horrid  cruelties  they 
committed,  too,  must  have  inspired 
the  Turks  v/ith  the  most  invincible 
hatred  against  them,  and  made 
them  resist  with  the  greatest  obsti- 
nacy. They  were  such  as  could 
have  been  committed  only  by  bar- 
barians inflamed  with  the  most  bi- 
gotted  enthusiasm.  When  Jeru- 
salem was  takeii',  hot  only  the 
numerous  garrison  were  put  to 
the  svv^ord,  but  the  inhabitants 
were  massaicred  without  mercy  and 
without  distinction.  No 'age  or  sex 
was  spared,  not  even  sucking 
children.  According  to  Voltaire, 
some  christians,  w^ho  hiid  been 
suffered  by  the  Turks  to  live  in 
that  city,  led  the  conquerors  into 
the  most  private  caves,  where  v/o- 
men  had  concealed  themselves 
with  their  children,  and  not  one 
of  them  Avias  suffered  to  escape. 
Vv'hat  eminently  shews  the  enthu- 
siasm by  which  these  conquerors 
were  animated,  is,  their  behaviour 
after  this  terrible  slaughter.  They 
marched  over  heaps  of  dead  bo- 
dies towards  the  holy  sepulchre ; 
and  while  their  hands  were  pol- 
luted with  the  blood  of  so  many 
innocent  persons,  sung  anthems  to 
the  common  Saviour  of  Mankind  ! 
Nay,  so  far  did  their  religious  en- 
thusiasm overcome  their  fury,  that 
these  ferocious  conquerors  now 
burst  into  tears.  If  the  absurdity 
and  wickedness  of  this  conduct 
can  be  exceeded  by  any  thing,  it 
must  be  by  what  follows.  In  1204, 
the  frenzy  of  croisading  seized  the 
children,  who  are  ever  read)^  to 
imitate  what  they  see  their  parents 
engaged  in.  Their  childish  folly 
vfas  encouraged  bv  the  monks  and 


CRO 


201 


CRO 


schoolmasters;  and  thousands  of 
those  innocents  were  conducted 
from  the  houses  of  their  parents 
on  the  superstitious  interpreta- 
tion of  these  words  :  "  Out  of  the 
mouths  of  babes  and  sucklings  hast 
thou  perfected  praise."  Their 
base  conductors  sold  a  part  of 
them  to  the  Turks,  and  the  rest 
perished  miserably.  Hume's  Hist, 
of  Englahd,  vol.  i,  p.  292,  &c.  ; 
and  vol.  ii,  p.  280  :  Enc.  Brit.  ; 
and  Moshehn\'i  Ecc.  Hist. 

CROiSIERS,a  religious  order, 
founded  in  honour  of  the  inven- 
tion or  discovery  of  the  cross  by 
the  empress  Helena.  They  were, 
till  of  late,  dispersed  in  several  parts 
of  Europe,  particularly  in  the  Low 
Countries,  France,  and  Bohemia  ; 
those  in  Italy  were  suppressed  even 
before  the  late  revolutions.  These 
religious  follow  the  rule  of  St. 
Augustine.  They  had  in  England 
the  name  o{  Crouched  Friars. 

CROSIER,  or  Crozier,  a  shep- 
herd's crook  ;  a  symbol  of  pasto- 
ral authority,  consisting  of  a  gold 
or  silver  staff",  crooked  at  the  top, 
carried  occasionally  before  bishops 
and  abbots,  and  held  in  the  hand 
when  they  give  the  solemn  bene- 
dictions. 

CROSS,  in  scripture  language, 
means  the  sufferings  of  Christ,  Gal. 
vi,  14.  The  sufferings,  trials,  or 
persecutions  of  his  people  are  also 
called  a  cross.  Matt,  xvi,  24.  Cross 
signifies  also  a  gibbet,  made  with 
two  pieces  of  wood,  placed  cross- 
wise, whither  they  cross  with  right 
angles  at  the  top  like  a  T,  or  in 
the  middle  of  their  length  like  an 
X.  The  cross  to  which  our  Sa- 
viour was  fastened,  and  on  which 
he  died,  was  of  the  former  kind  ; 

Vol.  I.  D  d 


being  thus  represented  by  old  mo- 
numents, coins,  and  crosses.  The 
death  of  the  cross  was  the  most 
dreadful  of  all  others,  both  for 
the  shame  and  pain  of  itj  and  so 
scandalous,  that  it  was  inflicted 
as  the  last  mark  of  detestation 
upon  the  vilest  of  people.  It  was 
the  punishment  of  robbers  and 
murderers,  provided  that  they  were 
slaves,  too ;  but  otherwise,  if  they 
were  free,  and  had  the  privilege  of 
the  city  of  Rome,  this  was  then 
thought  a  prostitution  of  that  ho- 
nour, and  too  infamous  a  pu- 
nishment for  such  a  one,  let  his 
crimes  be  what  they  would.  The 
from  of  a  cross  being  such  as  has 
been  already  described,  the  body 
of  the  criminal  was  fastened  to 
the  upright  piece  by  nailing  the 
feet  to  it,  and  on  the  other  trans- 
verse piece  generally  by  nailing 
the  hands  on  each  side.  Now, 
because  these  parts  of  the  body, 
being  the  instruments  of  action 
and  motion,  are  provided  by  Na- 
ture with  a  much  greater  quantity 
of  nerves  than  others  have  occa- 
sion for;  and  because  all  sensation 
is  performed  by  the  spirit  contain- 
ed in  these  nerves ;  it  will  follow, 
as  Stanhope  observes,  that  where- 
ever  they  abound,  the  sense  of  pain 
must  needs  in  proportion  be  more 
quick  and  tender.  The  Jews  con- 
fess, indeed,  that  they  crucified 
people  in  their  nation,  but  deny 
that  they  inflicted  this  punishment 
upon  any  one  alive.  They,  first 
put  them  to  death,  and  then  fas- 
tened them  to  the  cross,  either  by 
the  hands  or  neck.  But  there  are 
indisputable  proofs  of  their  cruci- 
fying men  frequently  alive.  The 
worshippers  of  Baal-peor  and  the 


CRO 


202 


CRO 


king  of  Ai  were  hung  up  alive  ;  as 
were  also  the  descendants  of  Saul, 
who  were  put  into  the  hands  of 
the  Gibeonites,  2d  Sam.  xxi,  9. 

Before  crucifixion,  the  criminal 
was  generally  scourged  with  cords ; 
sometimes  little  bones,  or  pieces 
of  bones,  were  tied  to  these 
scourges,  so  that  the  condemned 
person  might  suffer  more  severely. 
It  was  also  a  custom,  that  he  who 
was  to  be  crucified  should  bear 
his  own  cross  to  the  place  of  exe- 
cution. After  this  manner,  we 
find  Christ  was  compelled  to  bear 
his  cross ;  and  as  he  sunk  under 
the  burden,  Simon  the  Cyrenian 
Vfns  constrained  to  bear  it  after 
him  and  with  him.  But  whereas 
it  is  generally  supposed  that  our 
Lord  bore  the  whole  cross,  i.  e. 
the  long  and  transverse  part  both, 
this  seems  to  be  a  thing  impos- 
sible ;  and  thei'efore  Lipsius  (in  his 
treatise  De  Siipplido  Crucis)  lias 
set  the  matter  in  a  true  light,  when 
he  tells  us  that  Jesus  only  car- 
ried the  transverse  beam  ;  because 
the  long  beam,  or  the  body  of  the 
cross,  was  either  fixed  in  the 
ground  before,  or  made  ready  to 
be  set  up  as  soon  as  the  prisoner 
came :  and  from  hence  he  ob- 
serves, that  painters  are  very  much 
mistaken  in  the  description  of  our 
Saviour  carrying  the  whole  cross. 
There  were  several  ways  of  cruci- 
fying; sometimes  the  criminal  v/as 
fastened  wifn  cords  to  atree,  some- 
times he  was  crucified  with  his 
head  downwards.  This  way,  it 
is  said,  Peter  chosen  out  of  re- 
spect to  his  master,  Jesus  Christ, 
not  thinking  himself  worthy  to  be 
crucified  like  him ;  though  the 
common  Vt^ay  of  crucifying  v/as  by 


fastening  the  criminal  with  nails, 
one  thi-ough  each  hand,  and  one 
through  both  feet,  or  one  through 
each  of  them  :  for  this  was  not 
always  performed  in  the  same 
manner;  the  ancients  sometimes 
represent  Jesus  Christ  crucified 
with  four  nails,  and  sometimes 
with  three.  The  criminal  was 
fixed  to  the  cross  quite  naked ; 
and,  in  all  probability,  the  Saviour 
of  sinners  was  not  used  with  any 
greater  tenderness  than  others 
upon  whom  this  punishment  was 
inflicted.  The  text  of  the  gospel 
shevv's  clearly  that  Jesus  Christ 
was  fastened  to  the  cross  with  nails ; 
and  the  Psalmist  (Ps.xxii,  16)  had 
foretold  long  before,  that  they 
should  pierce  his  hands  and  his 
feet :  but  there  are  great  disputes 
concerning  the  number  of  these 
nails.  The  Greeks  represent  our 
Saviour  as  fastened  to  the  cross 
with  four  nails ;  in  which  parti- 
cular Gregory  of  Tours  agrees 
with  them,  one  at  each  hand  and 
foot.  But  several  are  of  opinion 
that  our  Saviour's  hands  and  feet 
were  pierced  with  three  nails  only, 
viz.  one  at  each  hand,  and  one 
through  both  his  feet:  and  the 
custom  of  the  Latins  is  rather  for 
this  last  opinion  ;  for  the  general- 
ity of  the  old  crucifixes  made  in 
the  Latin  church  have  only  three 
nails.  Nonnus  thinks  that,  our 
Saviour's  arms  werebcsidesbound 
fast  to  the  cross  with  chains  ;  and 
St.  Hilar}^  speaks  of  the  cords 
wherewith  he  vras  tied  to  it. 
Sometimes  they  who  were  fastened 
upon  the  cross  lived  a  good  while 
in  that  condition.  St.  Andrew^  is 
believed  to  have  continued  three 
days    alive    upon    it.       Eusebius 


CRO 


203 


CRO 


speaks  of  certain  martyrs  in  Egypt 
who  were  kept  upon  the  cross  till 
they  were  starved  to  death.  Pi- 
late was  amazed  at  Jesus  Christ's 
dying  so  soon,  because  naturally 
he  must  have  lived  longer  if  it  had 
not  been  in  his  po\yer  to  have  laid 
down  his  life,  and  to  take  it  up 
again.  The  thighs  of  the  two 
thieves,  who  were  crucified  with 
our  Saviour,  were  broken,  in  order 
to  hasten  their  death,  that  their 
bodies  might  not  remain  upon  the 
cross  on  the  sabbath  day,  John 
xix,  31,  33  ;  and  to  comply  with 
the  law  of  Moses,  which  forbids 
the  bodies  to  be  left  there  after 
sun-set.  But,  among  other  na- 
tions, they  were  suffered  to  re- 
main upon  the  cross  a  long  time. 
Sometimes  they  v/ere  devoured 
alive  by  birds  and  beasts  of  prey. 
Guards  were  appointed  to  observe 
that  none  of  their  friends  or  rela- 
tions should  take  them  down  and 
bury  them.  The  Roman  soldiers, 
who  had  crucified  Jesus  Christ  and 
the  two  thieves,  continued  near  the 
crosses  till  the  bodies  were  taken 
down  and  buried. 

Invention  of  the  Cross,  an  an- 
cient feast  solemnized  on  the  3d  of 
May,  in  memory  of  St.  Helena's 
(the  mother  of  Constantine)  find- 
ing the  true  cross  of  Christ  deep  in 
the  ground  on  Mount  Calvary, 
where  she  erected  a  church  for  the 
preservation  of  part  of  it ;  the  rest 
being  brought  to  Rome,  and  de- 
posited in  the  church  of  the  Holy 
Cross  of  Jerusalem. 

Exaltation  of  the  Cross,  an  an- 
cient feast  held  on  the  14th  of 
September,  in  memory  of  this, 
that  Heraclitus  restored  to  Mount 
Calvary  the  true  cross,    in  1G42, 


which  had  been  carried  off  four- 
teen years  before  by  Cosroes,  king 
of  Persia,  upon  his  taking  Jeru- 
salem from  the  emperor  Phocas. 

The  Adoration  of  the  Cross  seems 
to  have  been  practised  in  the  an- 
cient  church,    inasmuch    as    the 
heathens,  particularly  Julian,  re- 
proached the  primitive  christians 
with  it ;  and  we  do  not  find  that 
their    apologists    disclaimed    the 
charge.   Mornay,  indeed,  asserted 
that  this    had   been   done  by  St. 
Cyril,  but  could  not  support  his 
allegation    at    the   conference   of 
Fountain-bleau.      St.     Helena   is 
said  to  have  reduced  the  adoration 
of  the  cross  to  its  just  principle, 
since  she  adored  Christ  in  the  wood, 
not  the  wood  itself.     With  such 
modifications     some     Protestants 
have  been  induced  to  admit  the 
adoration    of  the    cross.       John 
Huss  allowed  of  the  phrase,  pro- 
vided it  were  expressly  added,  that 
the  adoration  was  relative  to  the 
person  of  Christ.     But,  however 
Roman  catholics  may  seem  to  tri- 
umph by  virtue  of  such  distinction 
and  mitigations,  it  is  well  known 
they  have  no  great  place  in  their 
own  practice.      Imbert,   the  pri- 
or of   Gascony,  was  severely  pro- 
secuted   in    1683  for  telling    the 
people,  that,  in  the  ceremony  of 
adoring  the  cross,  practised  in  that 
church  on  Good  Friday,  they  were 
not  to  adore  the  wood,  but  Christj 
who  was  crucified  on  it.     The  cu- 
rate of  the  parish  told  them  the 
contrary.     It  v/as  the  wood  ;  the 
wood  they  Vt^ere  to  adore  !  Imbert 
replied,    it   was    Christ,    not  the 
wood :    for   which   he    was   cited 
before   the   ?rchbishop    of   Bour- 
deaux,  suspended  from  his  func- 


CUR 


194 


CUR 


tions,  and  even  threatened  with 
chains  and  perpetual  prisonment. 
It  little  availed  him  to  cite  the 
bishop  of  Meaux's  distinction  :  it 
was  answered,  that  the  church  al- 
lowed it  not. 

CROSS-BEARER,  in  the  Ro- 
mish  church,  the  chaplain  of  an 
archbishop,  who  bears  a  cross  be- 
fore him  on  solemn  occasions. 
Cross-bearers  also  denote  certain 
officers  in  the  Inquisition,  who 
niake  avow  before  the  inquisitors, 
or  their  vicars,  to  defend  the  ca- 
tholic faith,  though  with  the  loss 
of  fortune  and  life.  Their  busi- 
ness is  also  to  provide  the  inquisi- 
tors with  necessaries. 

CRUCIFIX,  a  cross,  upon 
which  the  body  of  Christ  is  fas- 
tened in  effigy,  used  by  the  Roman 
catholics,  to  excite  in  their  minds 
a  strong  idea  of  our  Saviour's  pas- 
sion. 

CRUCIFIXION  OF  CHRIST. 
See  Cross. 

CRUSADE.    See  Croisade. 

CURATE,  the  lowest  degree 
in  the  church  of  England  ;  he  who 
represents  the  incumbent  of  a 
church,  parson,  or  vicar,  and  offi- 
ciates in  his  stead  :  he  is  to  be  li- 
censed and  admitted  by  the  bishop 
of  the  diocese,  or  by  an  ordinury 
having  episcopal  jurisdiction  ;  and 
when  a  curate  hath  the  approbation 
of  the  bishop,  he  usually  appoints 
the  salary  too  ;  and,  in  such  case, 
if  he  be  not  paid,  the  curate  hath 
a  proper  remedy  in  the  ecclesiasti- 
cal court,  by  a  sequestration  of  the 
profits  of  the  benefice  ;  but  if  the 
curate  be  not  licensed  by  the  bi- 
shop, he  is  put  to  his  remedy  at 
cornnion  law,  where  he  must  prove 
the   agi-eement,   etc.       A  curate. 


having  no  fixed  estate  in  his  cura- 
cy, not  being  instituted  and  induct- 
ed, may  be  removed  at  pleasure  by 
the  bishop,  or  incumbent.  But 
there  are  perpetual  curates  as  well 
as  temporary,  who  are  appointed 
where  tithes  are  impropriate,  and 
no  vicarage  endowed  :  these  are 
not  re  moveable,  and  the  impropri- 
ators are  obliged  to  find  them  ; 
some  whereof  have  certain  por- 
tions of  the  tithes  setded  on  them. 
Curates  must  subscribe  the  decla- 
ration according  to  the  act  of  uni- 
formity, or  are  liable  to  impri- 
sonment. Though  the  condition 
of  curates  be  somewhat  meliorat- 
ed by  a  late  act,  it  must  be  con- 
fessed that  they  are  still,  in  many 
respects,  exposed  to  hardships  : 
their  salaries  are  not  equal  to 
many  of  the  Dissenters,  who  have 
nothing  to  depend  on  but  the 
liberality  of  their  people.  Can 
there  be  a  greater  reproach  to  the 
dignified  ecclesiastics  of  this  coun- 
try than  the  comparatively  miser- 
able pittance  allowed  the  curates, 
who  do  all  the  labour?  Surely 
they  must  be  a  set  of  useless  be- 
ings, to  reap  so  little  wages  ;  or 
else  they  are  unjustly  treated  ! ! ! 

CURIOSITY,  a  propensity  or 
disposition  of  the  soul  which  in- 
clines it  to  enquire  after  ne\v  ob- 
jects, and  to  delight  in  viewing 
them.  Curiosity  is  proper,  when  it 
springs  from  a  desire  to  know  our 
duty,  to  mature  our  judgments,  to 
enlarge  our  minds,  and  to  regulate 
our  conduct ;  but  improper  when 
it  Vv'ishes  to  know  more  of  God,  or 
the  nature  of  things,  than  are  re- 
vealed. Curiosity  also  concern- 
ing the  affairs  of  others  is  exceed- 
ingly reprehensible.      "  It  inter- 


CUR 


205 


CUR 


rupts,"  says  an  elegant  writer, 
"  the  order,  and  bi-eaks  the  peace 
of  society.  Persons  of  this  dis- 
J)Osition  are  dangerous  troublers 
of  the  world.  While  they  con- 
ceive themselves  to  be  inoffensive, 
they  are  sowing  dissension  and 
feuds.  Crossing  the  lines  in  which 
others  move,  they  create  confu- 
sion, and  awaken  resentment. 
Hence,  many  a  friendship  has 
been  broken  ;  the  peace  of  many 
a  family  has  been  overthrown  ; 
and  much  bitter  and  lasting  dis- 
cord has  been  propagated  through 
society.  This  disposition  not  only 
injures  the  peace  of  others,  but 
it  also  produces,  among  indivi- 
duals who  are  addicted  to  it,  a 
multitude  of  bad  passions.  Its 
most  frequent  source  is  mere  idle- 
ness, which,  in  itself  a  vice,  never 
fails  to  engender  many  vices  more. 
The  mind  of  man  cannot  be  long 
without  some  food  to  nourish  the 
activity  of  its  thoughts.  The  idle, 
who  have  no  nourishment  of  this 
sort  within  themselves,  feed  their 
thoughts  with  enquiries  into  the 
conduct  of  their  neighbours.  The 
inquisitive  and  curious  are  always 
talkative.  A  tale  which  the  ma- 
licious have  invented,  and  the 
credulous  have  propagated  ;  a  ru- 
mour which,  arising  from  among 
the  multitude,  and  transmitted  by 
one  to  another  has,  in  every  step 
of  its  progress,  gained  fresh  ad- 
ditions, becomes  in  the  end  the 
foundation  of  confident  assertion, 
and  of  rash  and  severe  judgment. 
Such  a  disposition  is  entirely  the 
reverse  of  that  amiable  spirit  of 
charity  our  Lord  inculcates.  Cha- 
rity, like  the  sun,  brightens  every 
object  on  which  it  shines  :  a  cen- 


sorious disposition  casts  every  cha- 
racter into  the  darkest  shade  it  will 
bear.  It  is  to  be  farther  observed, 
that  all  impertinent  curiosity  about 
the  affairs  of  others  tends  greatly 
to  obstruct  personal  reformation. 
They  who  are  so  officiously  occu- 
pied about  their  neighbours,  have 
little  leisure,  and  less  inclination, 
to  observe  their  own  defects,  or  to 
mind  their  own  duty.  From  their 
inquisitive  researches,  they  find,  or 
imagine  they  find,  in  the  behavi- 
our of  others,  an  apolog}^  for  their 
own  failings;  and  the  favourite 
result  of  their  enquiries  generally 
is,  to  rest  satisfied  with  themselves. 
We  should  consider,  also,  that 
every  excursion  of  vain  curiosity 
about  others  is  a  subtraction  from 
that  time  and  thought  which  are 
due  to  ourselves,  and  to  God.  In 
the  great  circle  of  human  affairs, 
there  is  room  for  every  one  to  be 
busy,  and  well  employed  in  his 
own  province,  without  encroaching 
upon  that  of  others.  It  is  the  pro- 
vince of  superiors  to  direct ;  of  in- 
feriors to  obey  ;  of  the  learned  to 
be  instructive  ;  of  the  ignorant  to 
be  docile  ;  of  the  old  to  be  com- 
municative ;  of  the  young  to  be 
adviseable  and  diligent.  In  all 
the  various  relations  which  subsist 
among  us  in  life,  as  husband  and 
wife,  master  and  sei"vants,  parents 
and  children,  relations  and  friends, 
rulers  and  subjects,  innumerable 
duties  stand  ready  to  be  perform- 
ed ;  innumerable  calls  to  activity 
present  themselves  on  every  hand, 
sufficient  to  fill  up  with  advantage 
and  honour  the  whole  time  of 
man."  Bknr^n  Senn.^  vol.  iv,  ser. 
8  ;  Clarke's  Serm.^  ser.  on  Deut. 
x-^VLy'H^;  Seed's  Posth,  Serm, ^ser.  7, 


c  us 


206 


C  YN 


CURSE,  the  action  of  wishing 
any  tremendous  evil  to  another. 
In  scripture  language  it  signifies 
the  just  and  awful  sentence  of 
God's  law,  condemning  sinners  to 
suffer  the  full  punishment  of  their 
sin,  Gal.  iii,  10. 

CURSINGand  Swearing.   See 

SwEA.RING. 

CUSTOM,  a  very  comprehen- 
sive term,  denoting  the  manners, 
ceremonies,  and  fashions  of  a  peo- 
ple, which  having  turned  into  ha- 
bit, and  passed  into  use,  obtain  the 
force  of  laws.  Custom  and  habit 
are  often  confounded.  By  custom^ 
we  mean  a  frequent  reiteration  of 
the  same  act ;  and  by  habit,  the  ef- 
fect that  custom  has  on  the  mind 
or  the  body.     See  Habit. 

"  Viewing  man,"  says  Lord 
Karnes,  "  as  a  sensitive  being,  and 
perceiving  the  influence  of  novelty 
upon  him-,  would  one  suspect  that 
custom  has  an  equal  influence  ?  and 
yet  our  nature  is  equally  suscep- 
tible of  both;  not  only  in  different 
objects,  but  frequently  in  the 
same.  When  an  object  is  new,  it 
is  enchanting;  familiarity  renders 
it  indifl'erent ;  and  custpm,  after  a 
longer  familiarity,  makes  it  again 
desirable.  Human  nature,  diver- 
sified with  many  and  various  { 
aprings  of  action,  is  wonderful, 
and,  indulging  the  expression,  in- 
tricately constructed.  Custom  hath 
such  influence  upon  many  of  our 
feelings,  by  warping  and  varying 
them,  that  we  must  attend  to  its 
operations,  if  we  would  be  ac- 
quainted with  human  nature.  A 
walk  upon  the  quarter-deck, 
though  intolerably  confined,  be- 
comes, hov/ever,  so  agreeable  by 
custom,  that  a  sailor,  in  his  walk 


on   shore,    confines  himself  com- 
monly within  the    same  bounds. 
I  knew    a  man    who    had    relin- 
quished the  sea  for  a  country  life : 
in  the  corner  of  his    garden    he 
reared  an  artificial  mount,  with  a 
level  summit,  resembling,  most  ac- 
curately, a  quarter-deck,  not  only 
in  shape,  but  in  size  ;    and  here 
was  his  choice  walk."     Such  we 
find  is  often  the  power  of  custom. 
CYNICS,  a  sect  of  ancient  phi- 
losophers, who  valued  themselves 
upon  their  contempt  of  riches  and 
state,  arts  and  sciences,  and  every 
thing  in  short,  except  virtue  and 
morality.     They  owe  their  origin 
and  institution  to  Antisthenes  of 
Athens,   a  disciple    of  Socrates  ;  ■ 
who,  being  asked  of  what  use  his 
philosophy  had  been  to  him,  re- 
plied, "  It  enables  me  to  live  with 
myself."    Diogenes  was  the  most 
famous  of  his  disciples,  in  whose 
life  the  system  of  this  philosophy 
appears  in  its  greatest  perfection. 
He  led  a  most  whimsical  life,  de- 
spising every  kind  of  convenience ; 
a  tub  serving  him   for  a  lodging, 
which  he  rolled  before  him  v/here- 
ever  he  went ;  yet  he  was  not.  the 
more  humble  on  account  of  his 
ragged  cloak,  bag,  and  tub.     One 
day,  entering  Plato's  house   at  a 
time  when  there  was  a  splendid 
entertainment,  for  several  persons 
of    distinction,     he    jumped,    in 
all    his    dirt,    upon    a  very   rich 
couch,  saying,  "  I  trample  on  the 
pride  of  Plato!"  "Yes,"  replied 
Plato,    "but     with    still    greater 
pride,   Diogenes !"    He    had   the 
utmost  contempt  for  all  the  human 
race  ;  for  he  walked  the  streets  of 
Athens  at  noon  day,  with  a  lighted 
lantern   in  his  hand,    telling    the 


V  JEM 


207 


DiEM 


people  "  he  was  in  search  of  an  11  maxims  of  morality,  he  held  sorfte 
honest  man."     But  with  all  his  H  very  pernicious  opinions. 


D. 


DAMIANISTS,  a  denomina- 
tion in  the  sixth  century,  so  called 
from  Damian,  bishop  of  Alexan- 
dria. Their  opinions  were  the  same 
as  the  Angelites,  which  see. 

DEMONS,  a  name  given  by 
the  ancients  to  certain  spirits  or 
genii,  which,  they  say,  appeared  tt 
men,  either  to  do  them  service,  or 
to  hurt  them. 

Several  of  the  heathen  philoso- 
^ihers  held  that  there  were  different 
kinds  of  dsemons  ;  that  some  ot 
them  were  spiritual  substances,  of 
a  more  noble  origin  than  the  hu- 
man race,  and  that  others  had 
once  been  men. 

But  those  daemons  who  were 
the  more  immediate  objects  of  the 
established  worship  among  the  an- 
cient nations  were  human  spirits, 
such  as  were  believed  to  become 
daemons,  or  deities,  after  their  de- 
parture from  their  bodies.  > 

It  has  been  generally  thought, 
that  by  ^<emc>;2*  we  are  to  understand 
devils,  in  the  Septuagint  version  of 
the  Old  Testament.  Others  think 
the  word  is  in  that  version  certainl}' 
applied  to  the  ghosts  of  such  dead 
men  as  the  heathens  deified,  in 
Deut.  xxxii,  17.  Ps.  cvi,  37.  That 
dmion  often  bears  the  same  mean- 
ing in  the  New  Testament,  and 
particularly  in  Acts  xvii,  18.  1st 
Cor.  X,  21.  IstTim.  iv,  1.  Rev.  ix, 
13.  is  shewn  at  large  by  Mr.  Jo- 
seph Mede  (see  Works,  p.  623,  et 
seq.).  That  the  word  is  applied 
always  to   human  spirits   in   the 


New  Testament,  Mr.  Farmer  has 
attempted  to  shew  in  his  Essay  on 
Dsemoniacs,  p.  208,  et  seq.  As 
to  the  meaningof  the  word  daemon, 
in  the  fathers  of  the  christian 
church,  it  is  used  by  them  in  the 
same  sense  as  it  v/as  by  the  hea- 
then philosophers,  especially  the 
latter  Platonists  ;  that  is,  some- 
times for  departed  human  spirits, 
and  at  other  times  for  such  spirits 
as  had  never  inhabited  human  bo- 
dies. In  the  fathers,  indeed,  the 
word  is  more  commonly  taken  in 
an  evil  sense  than  in  the  ancient 
philosophers. 

DiEMONIAC,  a  human  being 
whose  volition  and  other  mental 
faculties  are  overpowered  and  re- 
strained, and  his  body  possessed 
and  actuated  by  some  created 
spiritual  being  of  superior  power. 
Such  seems  to  be  the  determinate 
sense  of  the  word ;  but  it  is  dis- 
puted whether  any  of  mankind 
ever  were  in  this  unfortunate  con- 
dition. That  the  reader  may  form 
some  judgment,  we  shall  lay  be- 
fore him  the  arguments  on  both, 
sides. 

I.  Da:?noniacs,  arguments  against 
the  existence  of.  Those  who  arc 
unwilling  to  allow  that  angels  or 
devils  have  ever  intermeddled  with 
the  concerns  of  human  life,  urge 
a  number  of  specious  arguments. 
The  Greeks  and  Romans  of  old, 
say  they,-  did  believe  in  the  reality 
of  daemoniacal  possession.  They 
supposed  that  spiritual  beings  did 


DiEM 


208 


D^M 


at  times  enter  into  the  sons  or 
daughters  of  men,  and  distinguish 
themselves  in  that  situation  by  ca- 
pricious freaks,  deeds  of  wanton 
mischief,  or  prophetic  enuncia- 
tions. Butin  the  instances  in  which 
they  supposed  this  to  happen,  it  is 
evident  no  such  thing  took  place. 
Their  accounts  of  the  state  and 
conduct  of  those  persons  whom 
they  believed  to  be  possessed  in 
this  supernatural  manner,  shey/ 
plainly  that  what  they  ascribed  to 
the  influence  of  daemons  were 
merely  the  effect  of  natural  dis- 
eases. Whatever  they  relate  con- 
cerning the  larvati,  the  ce}-riti,  and 
the  lymphatic^  shews  that  these 
were  merely  people  disordered  in 
mind,  in  the  same  unfortunate  si- 
tuation with  those  madmen,  idiots, 
and  melancholy  persons,  whom 
we  have  among  ourselves.  Fes- 
tus  describes  the  larvati  as  being 
furiosi  et  mente  7noti.  Lucian  de- 
scribes claemoniacs  as  lunatic,  and 
as  staring  with  their  eyes,  foam- 
ingatthemouth,andbeingspeech- 
less.  It  appears  still  more  evident 
that  all  the  persons  spoken  of  as 
possessed  with  devils  in  the  New 
Testament,  were  either  mad  or 
epileptic,  and  precisely  in  the  same 
condition  with  the  madmen  and 
epileptics  of  modern  times.  The 
Jews,  among  other  reproaches 
which  they  threw  out  against  our 
Saviour,  said,  He  hath  a  devil^ 
and  is  mad;  why  hear  ye  him  P  The 
expressions  he  hath  a  devil^  and  is 
mad,  were  certainly  used  on  this 
occasion  as  synonymous.  With 
all  their  virulence,  they  would  not 
surely  ascribe  to  him  at  once  two 
things  that  were  inconsistent  and 
contradictor}'.  Those  who  thought 


more  favourably  of  the  character 
of  Jesus,  asserted  concerning  his 
discourses,  in  reply  to  his  adver- 
saries, These  are  not  the  words  of 
him  that  hath  a  dtemon  ;  meaning, 
no  doubt,  that  he  spoke  in  a  more 
rational  manner  than  a  madman 
could  be  expected  to  speak.  The 
Jews  appear  to  have  ascribed  to 
the  influence  of  daemons,  not 
only  that  species  of  madness  in 
I  which  the  patient  is  raving  and 
furious,  but  also  melancholy  mad- 
ness. Of  John,  who  secluded  him- 
self from  intercourse  with  the 
world,  and  was  distinguished  for 
abstinence  and  acts  of  mortifica- 
tion, they  said.  He  hath  a  damon. 
The  youth,  whose  father  applied 
to  Jesus  to  free  him  from  an  evil 
i  spirit,  describing  his  unhappy  con- 
dition in  these  words,  Have  mercy 
on  ray  son  for  he  is  lunatic,  and  sore 
vexed  -with  a  dxmon :  for  oft  times 
hefalleth  into  the  fire,  and  oft  into 
the  water,  was  plainly  epileptic. 
Every  thing,  indeed,  that  is  related 
in  the  New  Testament  concerning 
dasmoniacs,  proves  that  they  wejre 
people  affected  wiih  such  natural 
diseases  as  are  far  from  being  un- 
common among  mankind  in  the 
present  age.  When  the  symptoms 
of  the  disorders  cured  by  our  Sa- 
viour and  his  apostles  as  cases  of 
daemoniacal  possession  correspond 
so  exactly  with  those  of  diseases 
well  known  as  natural  in  the  pre- 
sent age,  it  would  be  absurd  to  im- 
pute them  to  a  supernatural  cause. 
It  is  much  more  consistent  with 
common  sense  and  sound  philoso- 
phy to  suppose  that  our  Saviour  and 
his  apostles  wisely,  and  v/ith  that 
condescension  to  the  weakness  and 
prejudices  of   those    with  whom 


B  JEM 


209 


D  JEM 


they  conversed,  which  so  emi- 
nently distinguished  the  character 
of  the  Author  of  our  holy  reli- 
gion, and  must  always  be  a  pro- 
minent feature  in  the  character  of 
the  true  christian,  adopted  the 
vulgar  language  in  speaking  of 
those  unfortunate  persons  who 
were  groundlessly  imagined  to  be 
possessed  with  daemons,  though 
they  well  knew  the  notions  which 
had  given  rise  to  such  modes  of 
expression  to  be  ill  founded,  than 
to  imagine  that  diseases  which 
arise  at  present  from  natural 
causes  were  produced  in  days  of 
old  by  the  intervention  of  demons, 
or  that  evil  spirits  still  continue  to 
enter  into  mankind  in  all  cases 
of  madness,  melancholy,  or  epi- 
lepsy. Besides,  it  is  by  no  means 
a  sufficient  reason  for  receiving 
any  doctrine  as  true,  that  it  has 
been  generallv  received  through 
the  world.  Error,  like  an  epi- 
demical disease,  is  communicated 
from  one  to  another.  In  certain 
circumstances,  too,  the  influence 
of  imagination  predominates,  and 
restrains  the  exertions  of  reason. 
Many  false  opinions  have  extend- 
ed their  influence  through  a  very 
wide  circle,  and  maintained  it 
long.  On  every  such  occasion 
as  the  present,  therefore,  it  be- 
comes us  to  enquire  not  so  much 
how  generally  any  opinion  has 
been  received,  or  how  long  it  has 
prevailed,  as  from  what  cause  it 
has  originated,  and  on  what  evi- 
dence it  rests.  When  we  contem- 
plate the  frame  of  Nature,  we  be- 
hold a. grand  and  beautiful  simpli- 
city prevailing  through  the  whole: 
notwithstanding  its  immense  ex- 
tent, and  though  it  contains  such 
Vol.  i.  E  e 


numberless  diversities  of  being, 
yet  the  simplest  machine  construct- 
ed by  human  art  does  not  display 
greater  simplicity,  or  an  happier 
connexion  of  parts.  We  may, 
therefore,  infer  by  analogy,  from 
what  is  observable  of  the  order 
of  Nature  in  general  to  the  pre- 
sent case,  that  to  permit  evil  spi- 
rits to  intermeddle  with  the  con- 
cerns of  human  life,  would  be  to 
break  through  that  order  which 
the  Deity  appears  to  have  esta- 
blished through  his  Works ;  it 
would  be  to  introduce  a  degree  of 
confusion  unworthy  of  the  wisdom 
of  Divine  Providence. 

II.  Damoniacs^  argiime^its  for 
the  existence  of.  In  opposition  to 
these  arguments,  the  following  are 
urged  by  the  Dsemonianists.  In 
the  days  of  our  Saviour  it  would 
appear  that  dsemoniacal  possession 
was  very  frequent  among  the  Jews 
and  the  neighbouring  nations. 
Many  were  the  evil  spirits  Vv^hom 
Jesus  is  related  in  the  gospels  to 
have  ejected  from  patients  that 
were  brought  unto  him  as  possess- 
ed and  tormented  by  those  male- 
volent daemons.  His  apostles,  too, 
and  the  first  christians,  who  were 
most  active  and  successful  in  the 
propagation  of  christianit}',  appear 
to  have  often  exerted  the  miracu- 
lous powers  with  which  they  were 
endowed  on  similar  occasions.  The 
ddemons  displayed  a  degree  of 
knowledge  and  malevolence  which 
sufficiently  distinguished  them 
from  human  beings  :  and  the  lan- 
guage in  which  the  daemoniacs  are 
mentioned,  and  the  actions  and  sen- 
timents ascribed  to  them  in  the 
New  Testament,  shew  that  our 
Saviour  and  his  apostles  did  not 


D  JEM 


210 


DiEM 


eonsider  the  idea  of  dsemoniacal 
possession  as  being  merely  a  vul- 
gar erfbr  concerning  the  origin  of 
a  disease  or  diseases  produced  by 
natural   causes.      The   more   en- 
lightened cannot  always  avoid  the 
use  of  metaphorical  modes  of  ex- 
pression J  which  though  founded 
upon  error,  yet  have  been  so  esta- 
blished in  language  by  the  influ- 
ence of  custom,  that  they  cannot 
be  suddenly  dismissed.  But  in  de- 
scriptions of   characters,    in    the 
narration  of  facts,  and  in  the  lay- 
ing down  of  systems  of  doctrine, 
we  require  different  rules  to    be 
observed.     Should  any  person,  in 
compliance  with  popular  opinions, 
talk  in  serious  language  of  the  ex- 
istence, dispositions,  declarations, 
and  actions  of  a  race    of  beings 
whom,  he  knew  to  be  absolutely 
fabulous,    we    surely    could    not 
praise  him  for  integrity  :  we  must 
suppose  him  to  be  either  exulting 
in  irony  over  the  weak  credulity 
of  those  around  him,  or  taking  ad- 
vantage of  their  weakness,  with 
the  dishonesty  and  selfish  views  of 
an  impostor.     And  if  he  himself 
should  pretend  to  any  connexion 
with  this  imaginary  system  of  be- 
-  ings  ;  and  should  claim,  in  conse- 
quence   of    his    connexion     with 
•  them,  particular  honours  from  his 
contemporaries  ;  whatever  might 
be  the  dignity  of  his  character  in 
all  other  respects,  nobody  could 
hesitate  to  brand  him  as   an  im- 
postor.    In  this  light  must  we  re- 
gard the  conduct  of  our  Saviour 
and  his   apostles,  if  the   idea  of 
dsemoniacal  possession  were  to  be 
considered  merely  as  a  vulgar  er- 
ror.    They  talked  and  acted  as  if 
tlT«y  believed  that  evil  spirits  had 


actually   entered  into  those  who 
were  brought  to  them  as  possessed 
with  devils,  and  as  if  those  spirits 
had  been    actually    expelled    by 
their  authority  out  of  the  unhappy 
persons  whom  they  had  possessed. 
They  demanded,  too,  to  have  their 
possessions  and    declarations  be- 
lieved,   in    consequence   of  their 
performing  such    mighty    works, 
and  having  thus  triumphed  over 
the  powers  of  hell.     The  reality 
of  daemoniacal  possession   stands 
upon  the  same  evidence  with  the 
gospel  system  in  general.     Nor  is 
there  any   thing  unreasonable   in 
this  doctrine.     It  does  not  appear 
to  contradict  those  ideas,  which 
the  general  appearances  of  Nature 
and  the  series   of  events  suggest, 
concerning  the   benevolence   and 
wisdom  of  the   Deity,  by  which 
he  regulates  the  affairs  of  the  uni- 
verse.    We  often  fancy  ourselves 
able    to    comprehend    things    to 
which  our  understanding  is  wholly 
inadequate;    we    persuade     our- 
selves,   at   times,  that  the  whole 
extent  of  the  works  of  the  Deity 
must  be  well  known  to  us,    and 
that  his  designs  must  always  be 
such  as  we  can  fathom.     We  are 
then  ready,  whenever  any  difficul- 
ty arises  to  us  in  considering  the 
conduct  of  Providence,  to  model 
things  according  to  our  own  ideas  ; 
to  deny  that   the  Deity  can   pos- 
sibly be  the  author  of  thing's  which 
we  cannot  reconcile;  and  to  as- 
sert, that  he  must  act  on  every  oc- 
casion in  a  manner  consistent  with 
our  narrow  views.     This   is   the 
pride  of  reason  ;  and  it  seems  to 
have  suggested  the  strongest  ob- 
jections that  have  been  at  any  time 
urged  against  the  reality  of  daenio- 


D  JEM 


211 


DAN 


Hiacal  possession.  But  the  Deity 
may  surely  connect  one  order  of 
his  creatures  with  another.  We 
perceive  mutual  relations  and  a 
beautiful  connexion  to  prevail 
through  all  that  part  of  Nature 
which  falls  within  the  sphere  of 
our  observation.  The  inferior 
animals  are  connected  with  man- 
kind, and  subjected  to  their  au- 
thority, not  only  in  instances  in 
which  it  is  exerted  for  their  ad- 
vantage, but  even  where  it  is  ty- 
rannically abused  to  their  destruc- 
tion. Among  the  evils  to  which 
mankind  have  been  subjected,  why 
might  not  thi-ir  being  liable  to  dse- 
m-^niacal  possessionbe  one?  While 
the  Supreme  Being  retains  the  so- 
vereignty of  the  universe,  he  may 
employ  whatever  agents  he  thinks 
proper  in  the  execution  of  his  pur- 
poses ;  he  may  either  commission 
an  angtl,  or  let  loose  a  devil; 
as  well  as  bend  the  human 
win,  or  communicate  any  parti- 
cular impulse  to  matter.  All  that 
revelation  makes  known,  all  that 
human  reason  can  conjecture, 
concerning  the  existence  of  va- 
rious orders  of  spiritual  beings, 
good  and  bad,  is  perfectly  con- 
sistent with,  and  even  favourable 
to,  the  doctrine  of  dsemoniacal 
possession.  It  is  mentioned  in  the 
New  Testament  in  such  language, 
and  such  narratives  are  related 
concerning  it,  that  the  gospels 
cannot  well  be  regarded  in  any 
other  light  than  as  pieces  of  im- 
posture, and  Jesus  Christ  must  be 
considered  as  a  man  who  took  ad- 
vantage of  the  weakness  and  igno- 
rance of  his  contemporaries,  if 
this  doctrine  be  nothing  but  a 
Tulgar  error:  it  teaches  nothing 


inconsistent  with  the  general  con- 
duct of  Providence  ;  in  short,  it 
is  not  the  caution  of  philosophy, 
but  the  pride  of  reason,  that  sug- 
gests objections  against  this  doc- 
trine. See  the  essays  of  7'oungy 
Farmer^  Worthington^  Dr.  Lard- 
ner^  Macknight^  Fell^  Burgh,  &c. 
071  Demoniacs;  and  article  Demo- 
niac in  Enc.  Brit. 

DAMNATION,  condemna- 
tion. This  word  is  used  to  denote 
the  final  loss  of  the  soul ;  but  it 
is  not  to  be  always  understood  in 
this  sense  in  the  sacred  scripture. 
Thus  it  is  said  in  Rom.  xiii,  2. 
"  They  that  resist  shall  receive  to 
themselves  damnation."  i.  e.  con- 
demnation, "from  the  rulers,  who 
are  not  a  terror  to  good  works, 
but  to  the  evil."  Again,  in  1st 
Cor.  xi,  29.  "  He  that  eateth  and 
drinketh  unworthily,  eateth  and 
drinketh  damnation  to  himself;" 
i.  e.  condemnation ;  exposes  him- 
self to  severe  temporal  judgments 
from  God,  and  to  the  judgment 
and  censure  of  the  wise  and  good. 
Again,  Rom.  xiv,  23.  "  He  that 
doubteth  is  damned  if  he  eat;"  i.  e. 
is  condemned  both  by  his  own 
conscience  and  the  word  of  God, 
because  he  is  far  from  being  satis- 
fied that  he  is  right  in  so  doing. 

DANCERS,  a  sect  which  sprung 
up  about  1373  in  Flanders,  and 
places  about.  It  was  their  custom 
all  of  a  sudden  to  fall  a  dancing, 
and,  holding  each  other's  hands, 
to  continue  thereat,  till,  being  suf- 
focated with  the  extraordinary 
violence,  they  fell  down  breath- 
less together.  During  these  inter- 
vals of  vehement  agitation  they 
pretended  to  be  favoured  with 
wonderful  visions.  Like  the  Whip- 


D  AR 


212 


D  AR 


pers,  they  roved  from  place  to 
place,  begging  their  victuals,  hold- 
ing their  secret  assemblies,  and 
treating  the  priesthood  and  worship 
of  the  church  with  the  utmost  con- 
tempt. Thus  we  find,  as  Dr.  Hav/eis 
observes,  that  the  French  Convul- 
sionists  and  the  Welch  Jumpers 
have  had  predecessors  of  the  same 
stamp.  There  is  nothing  new  un- 
der the  sun.  Hawms  and  Mo~ 
shehrCs  Ch.  Hist.^  Cent.  14. 

DARKNESS,  the  absence, pri- 
vation, or  want  of  natural  light.  In 
scripture  language  it  also  signifies 
sin,  John iii,  19.  trouble.  Is.  viii,  22. 
obscurity,  privacy,  Matt,  x,  27. 
forgetfulness,  contempt,  Ec.  vi,  4. 

Darkness,  says  Piloses,  was  upon 
the  face  of  the  deep.  Gen.  i,  2. 
that  is  to  say,  the  chaos  was  plung- 
ed in  thick  darkness,  because  hi- 
therto the  light  was  not  created. 
Moses,  at  the  command  of  God, 
brought  darkness  upon  Egypt,  as 
a  plague  to  the  inhabitants  of 
it.  The  Septuagint,  our  transla- 
tion of  the  Bible,  and  indeed  most 
others,  in  explaining  Moses's  ac- 
count of  this  darkness,  render  it 
*'  a  darkness  v/hich  may  be  felt ;" 
and  the  Vulgate  '\\z.i  it,  "  palpable 
darkness;"  that  is,  a  darkness  con- 
sisting of  black  vapours  and  exha- 
lations, so  condensed  that  they 
ijiight  be  perceived  by  the  organs 
of  feeling  or  seeing ;  but  some 
commentators  think  that  this  is 
carrying  the  sense  too  far,  since,  in 
such  a  medium  as  this,  mankind 
could  not  live  an  hour,  much  less 
for  the  space  of  three  days,  as  the 
Egyptians  are  said  to  have  done, 
during  the  time  this  darkness  last- 
ed ;  and,  therefore,  they  imagine 
that  instead   of    a   darkness  that 


may  be  felt,  the  Hebrew  phrase 
may  signify  a  darkness  wherein 
men  Vv^ent  groping  and  feeling 
about  for  every  thing  they  wanted. 
Let  this,  however,  be  as  it  may, 
it  Vv'as  an  awful  judgment  on  the 
Egyptians ;  and  v/e  maj^  natu- 
rally conclude  that  it  must  have 
also  spread  darkness  and  distress 
over  their  rninds  as  well  as  their 
persons.  The  tradition  of  the  Jews 
is,  that  in  this  darkness  they  were 
terrified  by  the  apparitions  of  evil 
spirits,  or  rather  by  dreadful 
sounds  and  murmurs  which  they 
made.  What  made  it  still  worse,^ 
was  the  length  of  time  it  continu- 
ed. Three  days,  or,  as  bishop 
Hall  expresses  it,  six  nights  in 
one. 

During  the  last  three  hours  that 
our  Saviour  hung  upon  the  cross, 
a  darkness  covered  the  face  of  the 
earth,  to  the  great  terror  and 
amazement  of  the  people  present 
at  his  execution.  This  extraordi- 
nary alteration  in  the  face  of  Na- 
ture, says  Dr.  Macknight,  in  his 
Harmony  of  the  Gospels^  was  pe- 
culiarly proper,  whilst  the  Sun 
of  Righteousness  was  withdrawing 
his  beains  from  the  land  of  Israel, 
and  from  the  world  ;  not  only  be- 
cause it  was  a  miraculous  testi- 
mony borne  by  God  himself  to 
his  innocence,  but  also  because  it 
was  a  fit  emblem  of  his  departure 
and  its  effects,  at  least  till  his  light 
shone  out  anew  with  additional 
splendour  in  the  ministry  of  his 
apostles.  The  darkness  which  now 
covered  Judea,  and  the  neighbour- 
ing countries,  beginning  about 
noon,  and  continuing  till  Jesus 
expired,  was  not  the  effect  of  an 
ordinary  eclipse   of  the  sun,  for 


D  AV 


213 


DE  A 


that  can  never  happen  but  at  the 
new  moon,  whereas  now  it  was 
full  moon  J  not  to  mention  that 
the  total  darkness  occasioned  by 
eclipses  of  the  sun  never  continues 
above  twelve  or  fifteen  minutes ; 
wherefore  it  must  have  been  pro- 
duced by  the  Divine  power,  in  a 
manner  we  are  not  able  to  explain. 
Accordingly  Luke  (chap,  xxiii, 
44,  45),  after  relating  that  there 
was  darkness  over  all  the  earth, 
adds,  "  and  the  sun  was  darken- 
ed;" which  perhaps  may  imply 
that  the  darkness  of  the  sun  did 
not  occasion,  but  proceeded  from, 
the  darkness  that  was  over  all  the 
land.  Farther,  the  christian  writ- 
ers, in  their  most  ancient  apolo- 
gies to  the  heathens,  affirm  that 
as  it  was  full  moon  at  the  passover 
when  Christ  was  crucified,  no  such 
eclipse  coixld  happen  by  the  course 
of  Nature.  They  observe,  also, 
that  it  was  taken  notice  of  as  a 
prodigy  by  the  heathens  them- 
selves. 

DAVIDISTS,  the  adherents 
of  David  George,  a  native  of 
Delft,  who,  in  1525,  began  to 
preach  a  new  doctrine,  publishing 
himself  to  be  the  true  Messiah ; 
and  that  he  was  sent  of  God  to  fill 
heaven,  which  was  quite  empty 
for  want  of  people  to  deserve  it. 
He  is  likewise  said  to  have^denied 
the  existence  of  angels,"  good  and 
evil,  and  to  have  disbelieved  the 
doctrine  of  a  future  judgment.  He 
rejected  marriage  with  the  Adam- 
ites; held,  with  Manes,  that  the 
soul  was  not  defiled  by  sin  ;  and 
laughed  at  the  self-denial  so  much 
recommended  by  Jesus  Christ. 
Such  were  his  principal  errors. 
He  mad€  his  escape  from  Delft, 


and  retired  first  into  Friesland,and 
then  to  Basil,  v.'here  he  changed 
his  name,  assuming  that  of  John 
Bruck,  and  died  in  1556.  He 
left  some  disciples  behind  him,  to 
whom  be  promised  that  he  would 
rise  again  at  the  end  of  three 
years.  Nor  was  he  altogether  a 
false  prophet  herein  ;  for  the  ma- 
gistrates of  that  city  being  infonn- 
ed,  at  the  three  years'  end,  of  what 
he  had  taught,  ordered  him  to  be 
dug  up  and,  burnt,  together  with 
his  writings,  by  the  common  hang- 
man. 

DEACON,  ^lootovos,  a  servant, 
a  minister. 

i.  In  ecclesiastical  polity,  a  dea- 
con is  one  of  the  lowest  of  the 
three  orders  of  the  clerg)'.  He  is 
rather  a  novitiate,  or  in  a  state  of 
probation  for  one  year,  after  which 
he  is  admitted  into  full  orders,  or 
ordained  a  priest. 

2.  In  the  New  Testament  the 
word  is  used  for  any  one  that  mi- 
nisters in  the  service  of  God : 
bishops  and  presbyters  are  also 
styled  deacons  ;  but  more  parti- 
cularly and  generally  it  is  under- 
stood of  the  lowest  order  of  mi- 
nistering servants  in  the .  church, 
1st  Cor.  iii,  5.  Col.  i,  23,  25,  Phil, 
i,  1.  1st  Tim.    iii. 

The  office  of  deacons  originally 
was'  to  serve  tables,  the  Lord's 
table,  the  minister's  table,  and 
the  poor's  table.  They  took  care 
of  the  secular  affairs  of  the  church, 
received  and  disbursed  monies, 
kept  the  church's  accounts,  and 
provided  every  thing  necessary  for 
its  temporal  good.  Thus,  while  the 
bishop  attended  to  the  souls,  the 
deacons  attended  to  the  bodies  of 
the  people.      The  pastor  to   the 


DE  A 


214 


DE  A 


spiritual,   and    the    deacons    the| 
temporal  interests  of  the  church, 
Acts  vi. 

DEACONESS,  a  female  dea- 
con. It  is  generally  allowed,  that 
in  the  primitive  church  there  were 
deaconesses^  i.  e.  pious  women, 
whose  particular  business  it  was 
to  assist  in  the  entertainment  and 
eare  of  the  itinerant  preachers, 
risit  the  sick  and  imprisoned,  in- 
struct female  catechumens,  and 
assist  at  their  baptism  ;  then  more 
pai'ticularly  necessary,  from  the 
peculiar  customs  of  those  coun- 
tries, the  persecuted  state  of  the 
church,  and  the  speedier  spread- 
ing of  the  gospel.  Such  a  one  it 
is  reasonable  to  think  Phebe  was, 
Rom.  xvi,  1.  who  is  expressly 
called  ^ixxovov,  a  deaconess,  or 
stated  servant,  as  Doddridge  ren- 
ders it.  They  were  usually  wi- 
dows, and,  to  prevent  scandal, 
generally  in  years,  1st  Tim.  v,  9. 
See  also  Spanheim,  Hist.  Christ. 
Seoul.  1,  p.  554.  The  apostolic 
constitutions,  as  they  are  called, 
mention  the  ordination  of  a  dea- 
coness, and  the  form  of  prayer 
used  on  that  occasion  (lib.  VIII, 
ch.  19, 20).  Pliny,  also,  in  his  cele- 
brated epistle  to  Trajan  (XCVII), 
is  thought  to  refer  to  them,  when, 
speaking  of  two  female  christians 
whom  he  put  to  the  torture,  he 
says,  quae  ministrse  dicebantur,  i.  e. 
who  were  called  deaconesses. — 
But  as  the  primitive  christians 
seem  to  be  led  to  this  practice  from 
the  peculiarity  of  their  circum- 
stances, and  the  scripture  is  en- 
tirely silent  as  to  any  appointment 
to  this  supposed  office,  or  any 
rules  about  it,  it  is  very  justly 
laid  aside,  at  least  as  an  office. 


DEAN,  an  ecclesiastical  dig^ 
nitary,  next  under  the  bishop  in 
cathedral  churches,  and  head  of 
the  chapter.  The  Latin  word  is 
decanus^  derived  from  the  Greek 
Asjta,  ten,  because,  the  dean  pre- 
sides over  at  least  ten  canons,  or 
prebendaries.  A  dean  and  chap- 
ter are  the  bishop's  council,  to  as- 
sist him  in  the  affairs  of  religion. 

DEATH  is  generally  defined 
to  be  the  separation  of  the  soul 
from  the  body.  It  is  styled,  in 
scripture  language,  a  departure 
out  of  this  world  to  another,  2d 
Tim.iv,7.  a  dissolving  of  the  earth- 
ly house  of  this  tabernacle,  2d  Cor. 
V,  1.  a  going  the  way  of  all  the 
earth,  Jos.  xxiii.  14.  a  returning  to 
the  dust,  Ecc.  xii,  7.  a  sleep,  John 
xi,  11.  Death  may  be  considered 
as  the  effect  of  sin,  Rom.  v,  12. 
yet,  as  our  existence  is  from  God, 
no  man  has  a  right  to  take  away 
his  own  life,  or  the  life  of  another, 
Gen.  ix.  6.  Satan  is  said  to  have 
Xh^  power  of  dea:h^  Heb.  ii,  14; 
not  that  he  can  at  his  pleasure  in- 
flict death  on  mankind,  but  as  he 
was  the  instrument  of  first  bring- 
ing death  into  the  world,  John 
viii.  44 ;  and  as  he  may  be  the 
executioner  of  God's  wrath  on 
impenitent  sinners,  when  God 
permits  him.  Death  is  but  once^ 
Heb.  ix,  27.  certain^  Job  xiv,  1, 
2.  powerful  2ind  terrifc,  called  the 
kingof  teriTjrs,  Job  xviii,  14.  uncer- 
tain as  to  the  time,  Prov.  xxvii,  1. 
universal^  Gen.  v.  necessary.,  that 
God's  justice  may  be  displayed, 
and  his  mercy  manifested  ;  desir- 
able to  the  righteous  Luke  ii, 
28  to  30.  The  fear  of  death  is  a 
source  of  uneasiness  to  the  gene- 
rality, and  to  a  guilty  conscience 


DE  A 


lis 


DE  A 


It  may  indeed  he  terrible  ;  but  to 
a  good  man  it  should  be  obviated 
by  the  consideration  that  death  is 
the  termination  of  every  trouble  ; 
that  it  puts  him  beyond  the  reach 
of  sin  and  temptation  ;  that  God 
has  promised  to  be  with  the 
righteous,  even  to  the  end,  Heb. 
xiii,  5.  that  Jesus  Christ  has  taken 
away  the  sting,  1st  Cor.  xv,  54. 
and  that  it  introduces  him  to  a 
state  of  endless  felicity,  2d  Cor.  v, 
8.  Bates's  Four  last  Things  ;  Hop- 
iinSy  Drelincourt,  Sherlock^  and 
Fellowes,  on  Death  ;  Bp.  Porteiis's 
Poem  on  Death ;  Grovels  admira- 
ble Sermon  on  Fear  of  Death. 

Spiritual  Death  is  that  awful 
state  of  ignorance,  insensibility, 
and  disobedience,  which  mankind 
are  in  by  nature,  and  which  ex- 
clude them  from  the  favour  and 
enjoyment  of  God,  Luke  i,  79. 
See  Sin. 

Brothers  of  Death  ^  a  denomina- 
tion usually  given  to  the  religious 
of  the  order  of  St.  Paul,  the  first 
hermit.  They  are  called  brothers 
@f  death y  on  account  of  the  figure 
of  a  death's  head  which  they  were 
always  to  have  with  them,  in  order 
to  keep  perpetually  before  them 
the  thoughts  of  death.  The  order 
was  probably  suppressed  by  pope 
Urban  VIII. 

Death  of  Christ.  The  circum- 
stances attendant  on  the  death  of 
Christ  are  so  well  known,  that  they 
need  not  be  inserted  here.  As  the 
subject,  however,  of  all  others,  is 
the  niost  important  to  the  chris- 
tian, a  brief  abstract  of  what  has 
been  said  on  it,  from  a  sermon  al- 
lowedly one  of  the  best  in  the  Eng- 
lish language,  shall  here  be  given. 
«  The  hour  of  Christ's  death," 


says  Blair  (vol.  i,  ser.  5.)  "  was  the 
most  critical,  the  most  pregnant 
with  great  events,  since  hours 
had  begun  to  be  numbered, 
since  time  had  begun  to  run.  It 
was  the  hour  in  -which  Christ  was 
glorified  by  his  sufferings, Throu^ 
the  cloud  of  his  humiliation  his 
native  lustre  often  broke  forth,  but 
never  did  it  shine  so  bright  as 
now.  It  was  indeed  the  hour  of 
distress,  and  of  blood.  It  is  distress 
which  ennobles  every  great  cha- 
racter, and  distress  was  to  glorify 
the  Son  of  God.  He  was  now  to 
teach  all  mankind,  by  his  exam- 
ple, how  to  suffer,  and  how  to  die. 
What  magnanimity  in  all  his 
words  and  actions  on  this  great 
occasion !  No  upbraiding,  no 
complaining  expression  escaped 
from  his  lips.  He  betrayed  no 
symptom  of  a  weak,  a  discompos- 
ed, or  impatient  mind.  With  all 
the  dignity  of  a  sovereign,  he  con- 
ferred pardon  on  a  penitent  feilow- 
sufferer :  with  a  greatness  of  mind 
beyond  example,  he  spent  his  last 
moments  in  apologies  and  prayers 
for  those  who  were  shedding  his 
blood.  This  zuas  the  hour  in  which 
Christ  atoned  for  the  sins  of  man- 
kind^ and  accomplished  our  eternal 
redemption.  It  was  the  hour  when 
that  great  sacrifice  was  offered  up, 
the  efficacy  of  which  reaches  back 
to  the  first  transgression  of  man, 
and  extends  forward  to  the  end  of 
time  J  the  hour,  when,  from  the 
cross,  as  from  an  high  altar,  the 
blood  was  flowing  which  washed 
away  the  guilt  of  the  nations.  In 
this  hour  the  long  series  of  prophe- 
cies^ visions^  types,  andfgurcs  was 
accomplished.  This  was  the  centre 
in  which  they  all  met.  You  behold 


DE  A 


^16 


DEA 


the  law  and  the  prophets  standing, 
if  we  may  speak  so,  at  the  foot  of 
the  cross,  and  doing  homage.  You 
behold  Moses  and  Aaron  bearing 
the  ark  of  the  povenant ;  David  and 
Elijah  presenting  the  oracle  of  tes- 
timony. You  behold  all  the  priests 
and  sacrifices,  all  the  rites  and 
ordinances,  all  the  types  and  sym- 
bols assembled  together  to  receive 
their  consummation.  This  was 
the  hour  of  the  abolition  of  the  laxu^ 
■and  the  introductio7i  of  the  gospel; 
the  hour  of  terminating  the  old  and 
beginning  the  new  dispensation^ — 
It  is  finished.  When  he  uttered 
these  words,  he  changed  the  state 
of  the  universe.  This  was  the  ever- 
memorable  point  of  time  which  se- 
parated the  old  and  the  new  world 
=from  each  other.  On  one  side  of 
the  point  of  separation  you  behold 
the  law,  with  its  priests,  its  sacri- 
-fices,  and  its  rites,  retiring  from 
sight.  On  the  other  side,  you  be- 
hold the  gospel,  Avith  its  simple 
and  venerable  institutions,  coming 
forward  into  view.  Significantly 
•  was  the  veil  of  the  temple  rent  in 
twain  ;  for  the  glory  then  depart- 
-ed  from  between  the  cherubims. 
-The  legal  high  priest  delivered  up 
his  '^^Urim  and  Thummim,  his 
breast-plate,  his  robes,  and  his  in- 
tense ;  and  Christ  stood  foith  as 
the  great  high  priest  of  all  suc- 
ceeding generations.  Altars  on 
which' the  fire  had  blazed  for  ages 
were  now  to  smoke  no  more.  Now 
it  M'-as  also  that  he  threw  down  the 
wall  of  partition  which  had  so  long 
I  divided  the  Gentile  from  the  Jew ; 
I  aad  gathered  into  one  all  the  faith- 
iful,  out  of  every  kindred  and  peo- 
ple. This  was  the  hour  of  Christ's 
\trmmph  over  all  the  poxvers  of  dark- 


Ties'^  ;  the  hour  in  which  he  over- 
threw dominions  and  thrones,  led 
captivity  captive,  and  gave  gifts  un- 
to men:  thenitwasthatthe  founda- 
tion of  every  pagan  temple  shook; 
the  statue  of  every  false  god  tot- 
tered on  its  base  ;  the  priegt  fled 
from  his  falling  shrine,  and  the 
heathen  oracles  became  durab  for 
ever ! —  7  ^his  was  the  hour  when  our 
Lord  erected  that  spiritual  kingdom 
which  is  never  to  end.  His  enemies 
imagined  that  in  this  hour  they  had 
successfully  accomplished  their 
plan  for  his  destruction  j  but  how 
little  did  they  know  that  the  Al- 
mighty was  at  that  moment  setting 
him  as  a  king  on  the  hill  of  Sion*! 
How  little  did  they  know  that 
ther  badges  of  mock  royalty  were 
at  that  moment  converted  into 
the  signals  of  absolute  dominion, 
and  the  instruments  of  irresistible 
power !  The  reed  which  they  put 
into  his  hands  became  a  rod  of 
iron,  with  which  he  was- to  breajc 
in  pieces  his  enemies ;  a  sceptre 
with  which  he  was  to  rule  the  uni- 
verse in  righteousness.  The  cross, 
which  they  thought  was  to  stig- 
matize him  with  infamy,  became 
the  ensign  of  his  renown.  Instead 
of  being  the  reproach  of  his  fol- 
lowers, it  was  to  be  their  boast, 
and  their  glory.  The  cross  was 
to  shine  on  palaces  and  churches 
throughout  the  earth.  It  was  to 
be  assumed  as  the  distinction  of  the 
most  powerful  monarchs,  and  to 
wave  in  the  banner  of  victorious 
armies,  when  the  memory  of 
Herod  and  Pilate  should  be  ac- 
cursed;  when  Jerusalem  should 
be  reduced  to  ashes,  and  the  Je%vs 
be  vagabonds  over  all  the  world." 
See   Atonejmxnt  ;    Pearson  and 


DEC 


S17 


DEC 


Barrow  on  the  Creed;  OxverCs 
Death  of  Death  in  the  Death  of 
Christ ;  Charnock's  Works,  vol.  ii, 
on  the  Necessity^  Voluntariness^ 
^c,  of  the  Death  of  Christ. 

DECALOGUE,  the  ten  com- 
mandments given  by  God  toMoses. 

The  ten  commandments  were 
engraved  by  God  on  two  tables 
of  stone.  The  Jews,  by  way  of 
eminence,  call  these  command- 
ments the  ten  words,  from  Avhence 
they  had  afterwards  the  name  of 
decalogue ;  but  they  joined  the  first 
and  second  into  one,  and  divided 
the  last  into  two.  They  understand 
that  against  stealing  to  relate  to 
the  stealing  of  men,  or  kidnap- 
ping ;  alleging,  that  the  stealing 
one  another's  goods  or  property 
is  forbidden  in  the  last  command- 
ment. The  church  of  Rome  has 
struck  the  second  commandment 
quite  out  of  the  decalogue ;  and,  to 
make  their  number  complete,  has 
split  the  tenth  into  two.  The  rea- 
son is  obvious. 

DECLAMATION,  a  speech 
made  in  public  in  the  tone  and  man- 
ner of  an  oration,  uniting  the  expres- 
sion of  action  to  the  propriety  of 
pronunciation,  in  order  to  give  the 
sentiment  its  full  impression  on 
the  mind.  It  is  used  also  in  a 
.derogatory  sense  j  as  when  it  is 
said,  such  a  speech  was  mere  de- 
clamation, it  implies  that  it  was 
deficient  in  point  of  reasoning,  or 
had  more  sound  than  sense. 

Declamation  of  the  Pul- 
pit. **  The  dignity  and  sanc- 
tity of  the  place,  and  the  import- 
ance of  the  subject,  require  the 
preacher  to  exert  the  utmost  pow- 
ers of  his  voice  to  produce  a  pro- 
nunciation that  is  perfectly  distinct 

Vol.  I.  F  f 


and  harmonious,  and  that  he  ob- 
serve a  deportment  and  action 
which  is  expressive  and  graceful. 
The  preacher  should  not  roar  like 
a  common  crier,  and  rend  the  ear 
with  a  voice  like  thunder ;  for 
such  kind  of  declamation  is  not 
only  without  meaning  and  without 
persuasion,  but  highly  incongruous 
with  the  meek  and  gentle  spirit  of 
the  gospel.  He  should  likewise 
take  particular  care  to  avoid  a 
monotony ;  his  voice  should  rise 
from  the  beginning,  as  it  were,  by 
degrees,  and  its  greatest  strength 
should  be  exerted  in  the  appli- 
cation. Each  inflexion  of.  the 
voice  should  be  adapted  to  the 
phrase  and  to  the  meaning  of  the 
words ;  and  each  remarkable  ex- 
pression should  have  its  peculiar 
inflexion.  The  dogmatic  requires 
a  plain  uniform  tone  of  voice  only, 
and  the  menaces  of  God's  word 
demand  a  greater  foixe  than  its 
promises  and  rewards  ;  but  the 
latter  should  not  be  pronounced 
in  the  soft  tone  of  a  flute,  nor  the 
former  with  the  loud  sound  of  a 
trumpet.  The  voice  should  still 
retain  its  natural  tone  in  all  its 
various  inflexions.  Happy  is  that 
preacher  who  has  a  voice  that  is 
at  once  strong,  flexible,  and  har- 
monious. An  air  of  complacency 
and  benevolence,  as  well  as  de- 
votion, should  be  constantly  vi- 
sible in  the  countenance  of  the 
preacher ;  but  every  appearance 
of  affectation  must  be  carefully 
avoided  ;  for  nothing  is  so  disgust- 
ful to  an  audience  as  even  the  sem- 
blance of  dissimulation.  Eyes  con- 
stantly rolling,  turned  towards 
heaven,  and  streaming  with  tears, 
rather  denote  a  hypocrite  than  a 


DEC 


218 


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man  possessed  of  the  real  spirit  of 
religion,  and  who  feels  the  true 
import  of  what  he  preaches.  An 
air  of  affected  devotion  infallibly 
destroys  the  efficacy  of  all  that  the 
preacher  can  say,  however  just  and 
important  it  may  be.  On  the  other 
hand^  he  must  avoid  every  appear- 
ance of  mirth  or  raillery,  or  of 
that  cold  unfeeling  manner  vfhich 
is  so  apt  to  freeze  the  heart  of  his 
hearers.  The  body  should  in  ge- 
n-eral  be  erect,  and  in  a  natural 
and  easy  attitude.  The  perpetual 
movem.ent  or  contortion  of  the 
body  has  a  ridiculous  effect  in  the 
pulpit,  and  makes  the  figure  of  a 
preacher '  and  a  harlequin  too 
similar :  on  the  other  hand,  he 
ought  not  to  remain  constantly 
upright  and  motionless  like  a 
speaking  statue.  The  motions  of 
the  hands  give  a  strong  expression 
to  a.  discourse  ;  but  they  should 
be  decent,  grave,  noble,  and  ex- 
pressive. The  preacher  who  is  in- 
cessandy  in  action,  vviio  is  perpe- 
tually clasping  his  hands,  or  who 
menaces  with  a  clenched  fist,  or 
counts  his  arguments  on  his  fin- 
gers, v/ill  only  excite  mirth  among 
his  auditor}'.  In  a  v/ord,  decla- 
mation is  s.n  art  that  the  sacred 
orator  should  study  v/ith  assiduity. 
The  design  of  a  sermon  is  to  con- 
vince, to  affect,  and  to  persuade. 
The  voice,  the  countenance,  and 
the  action,  which  are  to  produce 
the  triple  effect,  are  therefore  ob- 
jects to  which  the  preacher  should 
particularly  apply  himstlf."  See 
Sermon. 

DECREES  OF  GOD  are  his 
settled  purposes,  whereby  he  fore- 
ordains whatsoever  comes  to  pass, 
Dan.  iv,  24.  Acts  xv,  18.  Eph.  i. 


1 1 .     This  doctrine  is  the  subject 

of  one  of  the  most  perplexing  con.- 
troversies  that  has  occurred  among 
mankind ;  it  is  not,  however,  as 
some  think,  a  novel  doctrine.  The 
opinion,  that  whatever  occurs  in 
the  world  at  large,  or  in  the  lot 
of  private  individuals,  is  the  re- 
sult of  a  previous  and  unalter- 
able arrangement  by  that  supreme 
Power  which  presides  over  Na- 
ture, has  always  been  held  by 
many  of  the  vulgar,  and  has 
been  believed  by  speculative  men. 
The  ancient  stoics,  Zeno  and 
Chrysippus,  whom  the  Jewish  Es- 
senes  seem  to  have  followed,  as- 
serted the  existence  of  a  Deity, 
that,  acting  wisely  but  necessarily, 
contrived  the  general  system  of  the- 
world  ;  horn,  which,  by  a  series  of 
causes,  whatever  is  now  done  in 
it  unavoidably  results.  Mahonaet 
introduced  into  his  Koran  the 
doctrine  of  absolute  predestination 
of  the  course  of  human  affairs. 
He  represented  life,  and  death, 
prosperity  and  adversity,  and  every 
event  that  befalls  a  man  in  this 
world,  as  the  result  of  a  previous 
determination  of  the  one  God  who 
rules  over  all.  Augustine  and  the 
whole  of  the  earliest  reformers, 
but  especially  Calvin,  favoured  this 
doctrine.  It  was  generally  asserted, 
and  publicly  owned,  in  mostof  the 
confessions  of  faith  of  the  reformed 
churches,  and  particularly  in  the 
church  of  England ;  and  to  this, 
we  may  add,  that  it  was  main- 
tained by  a  great  number  of  di- 
vines in  the  two  last  centuries. 

As  to  the  nature,  of  these  de- 
crees, it  must  be  observed  that 
they  are  not  the  result  of  delibe- 
ration, or  the  Almighty's  debating 


DEC 


219 


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matters  within  himself,  reasoning 
in  his  own  mind  about  the  expe- 
diency or  inexpediency  of  things, 
as  creatures  do ;  nor  are  they 
merely  ideas  of  things  future,  but 
settled  determinations  founded  on 
his  sovereign  will  and  pleasure, 
Is.  xl,  14.  They  are  to  be  con- 
sidered as  eternal:  this  is  evident; 
for  if  God  be  eternal,  consequently 
his  purposes  must  be  of  equal  du- 
ration with  himself:  to  suppose 
otherwise,  would  be  to  suppose 
that  there  was  a  time  when  he 
was  undetermined  and  mutable  ; 
v/hereas  no  new  determinations 
or  after  thoughts  can  arise  In  his 
mind.  Job  xxiii,  13,  14. — 2.  They 
areyree,  without  any  compulsion, 
and  not  excited  by  any  motive 
out  of  himself,  Rom.  ix,  15. — 3. 
They  are  mjimtelywise^  displaying 
his  glory,  and  promoting  the  ge- 
neral good,  Rom.  xi,  33. — 4.  They 
are  immutable^  for  this  is  the  result 
of  his  being  infinitely  perfect;  for 
if  there  were  the  least  change  in 
God's  understanding,  it  would  be 
an  instance  of  imperfection,  Mai. 
iii,  6. — 5.  They  are  extensive  or 
universal^  relating  to  all  creatures 
and  things  in  heaven,  earth,  and 
hell,  Eph.  i,  11.  Prov.  xvi,  4. 
— 6.  They  are  secret^  or  at  least 
cannot  be  known  till  he  be  pleas- 
ed to  discover  them.  It  is  there- 
fore presumption  for  any  to  at- 
tempt to  enter  into  or  judge  of 
his  secret  purpose,  or  to  decide 
tipon  what  he  has  not  revealed, 
Deut.  xxix,  29.  Nor  is  an  un- 
known or  supposed  decree  at  any 
time  to  be  the  rule  of  our  conduct. 
His  revealed  will  alone  must  be 
considered  as  the  rule  by  v/hich 
we  are  to  judge  of  the  event  of! 


things,  as  well  as  of  our  conduct 
at  large,  Rom.  xi,  34. — 7.  Lastly, 
they  are  effectual ;  for  as  he  is  in- 
finitely wise  to  plan,  so  he  is  in- 
finitely powerful  to  perform :  his 
council  shall  stand,  and  ht  tvill  do 
all  his  pleasure.  Is.  xlvi,  10. 

This  doctrine  should  teach  us, 
1.  Admiration.  "  He  is  the  rock, 
his  work  is  perfect,  for  all  his  ways 
are  judgment ;  a  God  of  ti'uth, 
and  without  iniquitj'- ;  just  and 
i-ight  is  he,"  Deut.  xxxii,  4. — 2. 
Reverence.  "  Who  would  not  fear 
thee,  O  King  of  nations?  for. to 
thee  doth  it  appertain,"  Jer.  x,  7» 
— 3.  Humility.  "  O  the  depth  of 
the  riches,  both  of  the  wisdom 
and  knowledge  of  God ! — ^how  un- 
searchable are  his  judgments,  and 
his  ways  past  finding  out !"  Rom. 
xi,  So. — 4.  Submission.  "  For  he 
doeth  according  to  his  will  in  the 
armies  of  heaven,  and  among  the 
inhabitants  of  the  earth  ;  and  none 
can  stay  his  hand,  or  say  unto  him, 
What  doest  thou  V  Dan.  iv,  35. — 
5.  Desire  for  heaven.  "  What  I  do, 
thou  knowest  not  now ;  but  thou 
shaltknow hereafter,"  John  xiii,  f. 

SeeNECESSITY,PREDESTINATION. 

Decrees  of  Councils  are  the 
laws  made  by  them  to  regulate  the 
doctrine  and  policy  of  the  church. 
Thus  the  acts  of  the  christian 
council  at  Jerusalem  are  called, 
Acts  xvi,  4. 

DECRETAL,aletterofapope, 
determining  some  point  or  qiiestion 
in  the  ecclesiastical  law.  ^The  de- 
cretals compose  the  second  part 
of  the  canon  law.  The  first  ge- 
nuine one,  acknowledged  by  all 
the  learned  as  such,  is  a  letter  of 
Pope  Siricius,  written  in  the  year 
385,  to  Himerus,  bishop  of  Tar- 


DEF 


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DE  I 


ragona,  in  Spain,  concerning  some 
disorders  which  had  crept  into  the 
chuixhes  of  Spain.  Gratian  pub- 
lished a  collection  of  decretals, 
containing  all  the  ordinances  made 
by  the  popes  till  the  year  1150. 
Gregory  IX,  in  1227,  following 
the  example  of  Theodosius  and 
Justinian,  formed  a  constitution 
of  his  own,  collecting  into  one 
body  all  the  decisions  and  all  the 
causes  which  served  to  advance 
the  papal  power  ;  which  collection 
of  decretals  was  called  the  Penta- 
teuch, because  it  contained  five 
books. 

DEDICATION,  a  religious 
ceremony,  wherebv  any  person,  or 
thing,  is  solemnly  consecrated,  or 
set  apart  to  the  service  of  God 
and  the  purposes  of  religion. 

The  use  of  dedications  is  very 
ancient,  both  among  the  wor- 
shippers of  the  true  ■  God,  and 
among  the  heathens.  In  the  scrip- 
ture we  meet  vrith  dedications  of 
the  tabernacle,  altars,  &c.  Un- 
der Christianity  dedication  is  only 
applied  to  a  church,  and  is  pro- 
perly the  consecration  thereof. 
See  Consecration. 

DEFENCE.  See  Self-de- 
fence. 

DEFENDER  OF  THE  FAITH, 
(Fidei  Defensoi-)^  a  peculiar  title 
belonging  to  the  king  of  England  ;  | 
as  Catholicus  to  the  king  of  Spain, 
and  Christianisshnits  to  the  king  of 
France.  These  titles  were  given 
by  the  popes  of  Rome.  That  of 
Fidei  Defensor  Avas  first  conferred 
by  Leo  X  on  king  Henry  VIII, 
for  writing  against  Martin  Luther ; 
and  the  bull,  for  it  bears  date 
qvinto  idus^  October  1521.  It  was 
afterwards  confirmed  by  Clement 


VII.  But  the  pope,  on  Henry's 
suppressing  the  houses  of  religion, 
at  the  time  of  the  reformation,  not 
only  deprived  him  of  his  title,  but 
deposed  him  from  his  crown  also ; 
though,  in  the  35th  year  of  his 
reign,  his  title.  Sec,  was  confirmed 
by  parliament,  and  has  continued 
to  be  used  by  all  his  successors. 
Chamberlayne  says,  the  tide  be- 
longed to  the  kings  of  England  be- 
fore that  time,  and  for  proof  hereof 
appeals  to  several  charters  granted 
to  the  University  of  Oxford :  so 
that  pope  Leo's  bull  was  only  a  re- 
novation of  an  ancient  right. 

DEGRADATION  Ecclesias- 
tical, is  the  deprivation  of  a 
priest  of  his  dignity.  We  have 
an  instance  of  it  in  the  eighth 
century  at  Constantinople,  in  the 
person  of  the  patriarch  Constan- 
tine,  who  was  made  to  go  out  of 
the  church  backwards,  stripped 
of  his  pallium,  and  anathematized. 
In  our  own  country,  Cranmer  was 
degraded  by  order  of  the  bloody 
queen  Mary.  They  dressed  him 
in  episcopal  robes,  made  only  of 
canvass  j  put  the  mitre  on  his  head, 
and  the  pastoral  staff  in  his  hand, 
and  in  this  attire  shewed  him  to 
the  people,  and  then  stripped  him 
piece  by  piece. 

DEISTS,  a  class  of  people  whose 
distinguishing  character  it  is,  not 
to  profess  any  particular  form  or 
system  of  religion  j  but  only  to 
acknowledge  the  existence  of  a 
God,  and  to  follow  the  light  and 
law  of  Nature,  rejecting  revela- 
tion and  opposing  Christianity.  The 
name  of  deists  seems  to  have  been 
first  assumed,  as  the  denomination 
of  a  party,  about  the  middle  of 
the   16th  century,  by  some  geur 


DEI 


221 


D  EI 


tlemen  in  France  tind  Italy,  who 
were  desirous  of  thus  disguising 
their  opposition  to  Christianity  by 
a  more  honourable  appellation 
than  that  of  atheists.  Viret,  an 
eminent  reformer,  mentions  cer- 
tain persons,  in  his  epistle  dedica- 
tory, prefixed  to  the  2d  volume  of 
his  Instruction  Chretien7ie,  publish- 
ed in  1653,  who  called  themselves 
by  a  new  name,  that  of  deists. 
These,  he  tells  us,  professed  to  be- 
lieve in  God,  but  shewed  no  re- 
gard to  Jesus  Christ,  and  consider- 
ed the  doctrine  of  the  apostles  and 
evangelists  as  fables  and  dreams. 
He  adds,  that  they  laughed  at  all 
religion,  though  they  outwardly 
conformed  to  the  religion  of  those 
with  whom  they  lived,  or  whom 
they  wished  to  please,  or  feared  to 
offend.  Some,  he  observed,  pro- 
fessed to  believe  the  immortality 
of  the  soul ;  others  denied  both 
this  doctrine  and  that  of  provi- 
dence. Many  of  them  were  con- 
sidered as  persons  of  acute  and 
subtile  genius,  and  took  pains  in 
disseminating  their  notions.  The 
deists  hold,  that,  considering  the 
multiplicity  of  religions,  the  nu- 
merous pretences  to  revelation, 
and  the  precarious  arguments  ge- 
nerally advanced  in  proof  thereof, 
the  best  and  surest  way  is  to  re- 
turn to  the  simplicity  of  Nature, 
and  the  belief  of  one  God ;  which 
is  the  only  truth  agreed  to  by  all 
nations.  They  complain,  that 
the  freedom  of  thinking  and  rea- 
soning is  oppressed  under  the  yoke 
of  religion  :  and  that  the  minds 
of  men  are  tyrannized  over,  by 
the  necessity  imposed  on  them  of 
believing  inconceivable  mysteries : 
and  contend,  that  nothing  should 


be  required  to  be  assented  to  or 
believed  but  what  their  reasou 
clearly  conceives.  The  distin- 
guishing character  of  modern  deists 
is,  that  they  discard  all  pretences 
to  revelation  as  the  effects  of  im- 
posture or  enthusiasm.  They  pro- 
fess a  regard  for  natural  religion, 
though  they  are  far  from  being 
agreed  in  their  notions  concerning 
it. 

They  are  classed  by  some  of 
their  own  writers  into  mortal  and 
immortal  deists  j  the  latter  ac- 
knowledging a  future  state  ;  and 
the  former  denying  it,  or  repre- 
senting it  as  very  uncertain.  Dr. 
Clarke  distinguishes  four  sorts  of 
deists.  1.  Those  who  pretend  to 
believe  the  existence  of  an  eternal, 
infinite,  independent,  intelligent 
Being,  who  made  the  world,  with- 
out concerning  himself  in  the  go- 
vernment of  it. — 2.  Those  who 
believe  the  being  and  naturalpro- 
vidence  of  God,  but  deny  the  dif- 
ference of  actions  as  morally  good 
or  evil,  resolving  it  into  the  arbi- 
trary constitution  of  human  laws ; 
and  therefore  they  suppose  that 
God  takes  no  notice  of  them. 
With  respect  to  both  these  classes, 
he  observes  that  their  opinions 
can  consistently  terminate  in  no- 
thing but  downright  atheism. — 3. 
Those  who,  having  right  appre- 
hensions concerning  the  nature, 
attributes,  and  all-governing  pro- 
vidence of  God,  seem  also  to  have 
some  notion  of  his  moral  perfec- 
tions ;  though  they  consider  them 
as  transcendent,  and  such  in  na- 
ture and  degree,  that  we  can  form 
no  true  judgment,  nor  argue  with 
any  certainty  concerning  them  : 
but  they  deny  the  immortality  of 


DEI 


222 


DEI 


liuman  souls  ;  alleging  that  men 
perish  at  death,  and  that  the  pre- 
^sent  life  is  the  whole  of  human  ex- 
istence.— 4.  Those  who  believe  the 
existence,  perfections,  and  provi- 
dence of  God,  the  obligations  of 
Tsatural  religion,  and  a  state  of 
future  retribution,  on  the  evidence 
of  the  light  of  Nature,  without  a 
divine  revelation  ;  such  as  these, 
he  says,  are  the  only  true  deists  ; 
but  their  principles,  he  appre- 
hends, should  lead  them  to  eni- 
lirace  Christianity  ;  and  therefore 
he  concludes  that  there  is  now  no 
consistent  scheme  of  deism  in  the 
world.  The  first  deistical  writer 
of  any  note  that  appeared  in  this 
country  was  Herbert,  baron  of 
Cherbury.  He  lived  and  wrote 
iQ  the  seventeenth  century.  His 
book  De  Verhate  was  first  pub- 
lished at  Paris  in  1624.  This, 
tOTrether  with  his  book  De  Causis 
Erronmiy  and  his  treatise  De  Re- 
Ugione  Lately  were  afterwards  pub- 
lished in  London.  His  celebrated 
work  De  Relig'vone  Gentilium  was 
published  at  Amsterdam  in  1663 
iti  4to,  and  in  1700  in  8vo ;  and 
an  English  translatioii  of  it  was 
pirfilished  at  London  in  1705.  As 
he  was  one  of  the  iirst  that  formed 
deism  into  a  system,  and  asserted 
the  sufficiency,  universality,  and 
absolute  perfection  of  natural  re- 
ligion, with  a  viev/  to  cliscai'd  all 
extraordinary  revelation  as  useless 
and  needless,  we  shall  subjoin  the 
:&ve  fundamental  articles  of  this 
universal  religion.  They  are  tliese : 
1.  That  there  is  one  supreme 
God. — 2.  That  he  is  chiefly  to  be 
worshipped. — 3.  That  piety  and 
Tirtue  are  the  principal  part  of  his 
worship, — 4.  That  we  must  repent 
of  our  sins  j  and  if  we  do  so,  God 


will  pardon  them. — 5.  That  there 
are  rewards  for  good  men  and  pu- 
nishments for  bad  men,  both  here 
and  hereafter.  Our  own  age  has 
produced  a  number  of  ^advo- 
cates in  the  same  cause ;  and  how- 
ever they  may  have  differed  among 
themselves,  they  have  been  agreed 
in  their  attempts  of  invalidating 
the  evidence  and  authority  of  di- 
vine revelation.  We  might  men- 
tion Hobbes,  Blount,  Toland,  Col- 
lins, Woolston,  Tindal,  Morgan, 
Chubb,  lord  Bolingbroke,  Hume, 
Gibbon,  Paine,  and  some  add 
lord  Shaftesbury  to  the  number. 
Among  foreigners,  Voltaire,  Rous- 
seau, Condorcet,  and  many  other 
celebrated  French  authors,  have 
rendered  themselves  conspicuous 
l)y  their  deistical  writings.  "  But," 
as  one  observes,  "  the  friends  of 
Christianity  have  no  reason  to  re- 
gret the  free  and  unreserved  dis- 
cussion which  their  religion  has 
undergone.  Objections  have  been 
stated  and  urged  in  their  full 
force,  and  as  fully  ansAvered ;  ar- 
guments and  raillery  have  been 
repelled  ;  and  the  controversy  be- 
tween christians  and  deists  has 
called  forth  a  great  number  of 
excellent  writers,  who  have  illus- 
trated both  the  doctrines  and  evi- 
dences of  Christianity  in  a  man- 
ner that  will  ever  reflect  honour 
on  their  names,  and  be  of  lasting 
service  to  the  cause  of  genuine  re- 
ligion, and  the  best  interests  of 
mankind."  See  articles  Chris- 
tianity, Infidelity,  Inspira- 
tion, and  Scripture,  in  this 
work.  Leland'^s  Fiezv  of  Deistical 
Writers  ;  Sermons  at  Boyle's  Lec- 
ture ;  Halijbwton's  Natural  Reli- 
giordnsiifficiint ;  Leslie's  Short  Me- 
thod xvit/i  the  Deists;  Bishop  Wat- 


DEL 


223 


DEL 


ssQTi^s  Apology  for  the  Bible  ;  Ful- 
ler's Gospel  of  Christ  its  own  Wit- 
ness; BishopPorteus'*sCharge  to  the 
Clergy^  for  1 794 ;  and  his  Summary 
of  the  Evidences  of  Christianity. 

DEITY  OF  CHRIST.  See 
Jesus  Christ. 

DELUGE,  the  flood  which 
overflowed  and  destroyed  the 
earth.  This  flood  makes  one  of 
the  most  considerable  epochas  in 
chronology.  Its  history  is  given 
by  Moses,  Gen.  vi,  and  vii.  Its 
time  is  fixed  by  the  best  chrono- 
logers  to  the  year  from  the  cre- 
ation 1656,  answering  to  the  year 
before  Christ  2293.  From  this 
flood,  the  state  of  the  world  is  di- 
vided into  diluvian  and  antedilu- 
vian* 

Men,  who  have  not  paid  that 
regard  to  sacred  history  as  it  de- 
serves, have  cavilled  at  the  ac- 
count given  of  an  universal  de- 
luge. Their  objections  princi- 
pally turn  upon  three  points ; 
I.  The  want  of  any  direct  history 
of  that  event  by  the  profane  writers 
of  antiquity. — 2.  The  apparent 
impossibility  of  accounting  for  the 
quantity  of  water  necessary  to 
overflow  the  whole  earth  to  such 
a  depth  as  it  is  said  to  have  been. 
— And,  3.  There  appearing  no  ne- 
cessity for  an  universal  deluge,  as 
the  same  end  might  have  been  ac- 
complished by  a  partial  one. 

To  the  above  arguments  we 
oppose  the  plain  declarations  of 
scripture.  God  declared  to  Noah 
that  he  was  resolved  to  destroy 
every  thing  that  had  bi-eath  under 
heaven,  or  had  life  on  the  earth, 
by  a  flood  of  waters  ;  such  was 
the  threatening,  such  was  the  ex- 
ecution.    The  waters,  Moses  as- 


sures us,  covered  the  whole  earth, 
buried  all  the  mountains  ;  every 
thing  perished  therein  that  had  life, 
excepting  Noah  and  those  v/idi 
him  in  the  ark.  Can  an  universal 
deluge  be  more  clearly  expressed? 
If  the  deluge  had  only  been  par- 
tial, there  had  been  no  necessity 
to  spend  an  hundred  years  in  the 
building  of  an  ark,  and  shutting 
up  all  the  sorts  of  animals  therein, 
in  order  to  re-stock  the  world ; 
they  had  been  easily  and  readily 
brought  from  those  parts  of  the 
world  not  overflowed  into  those 
that  were  ;  at  least,  all  the  birds 
never  would  have  been  destroyed, 
as  Moses  says  they  v/ere,  so  long 
as  they  had  wings  to  bear  theim  to 
those  parts  where  the  flood  did 
not  reach.  If  the  waters  had  omly 
overflowed  the  neighbourhood  of 
the  Euphrates  and  the  Tigris,  they 
could  not  be  fifteen  cubits  above 
the  highest  mountains  :  there  was 
no  rising  that  height  but  they  must 
spread  themselves,  by  the  lav/s  of 
gravity,  over  the  rest  of  the  earth ; 
vmless,  perhaps,  they  had  been 
retained  there  by  a  miracle :  in 
that  case,  Moses,  no  doubt,  would 
have  related  the  miracle,  as  he 
did  that  of  the  waters  of  the  Red 
Sea,  &c.  It  may  also  be  observed, 
that  in  regions  far  remote  from  the 
Euphrates  and  Tigris,  viz.  Italy 
France,  Switzerland,  Germany, 
England,  &c.,  there  are  frequently 
found  in  places  many  scores  of 
leagues  from  the  sea,  and  even  in 
the  tops  of  high  mountains,  v/hole 
trees  sunk  deep  under  ground,  as 
also  teeth  and  bones  of  animals, 
fishes  entire,  sea  shells,  cars  of  corn, 
&c.,  petrified,  which  the  best  na- 
turalists are  a<?;reed   could  never 


DEL 


224 


DES 


have  come  there  but  by  the  deluge. 
That  the  Greeks  and  western  na- 
tions had  some  knowledge  of  the 
flood,  has  never  been  denied  ;  and 
the  Mussulmen,Chlnese,and  Ame- 
ricans have  traditions  of  the  de- 
luge. The  ingenious  Mr.  Bryant, 
in  his  Mythology,  has  pretty  clear- 
ly proved  that  the  deluge,  so  far 
from  being  unknown  to  the  hea- 
then world  at  large,  is  in  reality 
conspicuous  throughout  everv  one 
of  their  acts  of  religious  worship. 
In  India,  also,  Sir  William  Jones 
has  discovered,  that,  in  the  oldest 
mythological  books  of  that  coun- 
try, there  is  such  an  account  of 
the  deluge  as  corresponds  suffi^^ 
ciently  with  that  of  Moses. 

Various  have  been  the  conjec- 
tures of  learned  men  as  to  the  na- 
tural causes  of  the  deluge.  Some 
have  supposed  that  a  quantity  of 
water  was  created  on  purpose,  and 
at  a  proper  time  annihilated  by  Di- 
vine power.  Dr.  Burnet  supposes 
the  primitive  earth  to  have  been 
no  more  than  a  crust  investing  the 
water  contained  in  the  ocean ;  and 
in  the  central  abyss  which  he  and 
others  suppose  to  exist  in  the  bow- 
els of  the  earth  at  the  time  of  the 
flood,  this  outward  crust  broke  in 
u  thousand  pieces,  and  sunk  down 
among  the  water,  which  thus 
spouted  up  in  vast  cataracts,  and 
overflowed  the  whole  surface. 
Others,  supposing  a  sufficient  fund 
of  water  in  the  sea  or  abyss,  think 
that  the  shifting  of  the  earth's 
centre  of  gravity  drev/  after  it  tlie 
water  out  of  the  channel,  and  over- 
whelmed the  several  parts  of  the 
earth  successively.  Others  ascribe 
it  to  the  shock  of  a  comet,  and  Mr. 
King  supposes  it  to  arise  from  sub- 


terraneous fires  bursting  forthwith 
great  violence  under  the  sea.  But 
are  not  most,  if  not  all,  these  hy- 
potheses quite  arbitraiy,  and  with- 
out foundation  ffom  the  words  of 
Moses  ?  It  is,  perhaps,  in  vain  to 
attempt  accounting  for  this  event 
by  natural  causes,  it  being  alto- 
gether miraculous  and  supernatu- 
ral, as  a  punishment  to  men  for 
the  corruption  then  in  the  world. 
Let  us  be  satisfied  with  the  sources 
which  Moses  gives  us,  namely, 
the  fountains  of  the  great  deep 
broken  up,  and  the  windows  of 
heaven  opened  ;  that  is,  the  v/a- 
ters  rushed  out  from  the  hidden 
abyss  of  the  bowels  of  the  earth, 
and  the  clouds  poured  down  their 
rain  incessantly.  Let  it  suffice  us 
to  know,  that  all  the  elements 
are  under  God's  power ;  and  he 
can  do  with  them  as  he  pleases, 
and  frequently  in  ways  we  are  ig- 
norant of,  in  order  to  accomplish 
his  own  purposes. 

The  principal  writers  on  this 
subject  have  been  JVoodi/ard^  Cock- 
burn^  Bryant^  Burnet^  Whiston^ 
Stillingfieet^  King^  Catcott^  and 
Tytler. 

DEPRAVITY,  corruption ;  a 
change  from  perfection  to  imper- 
fection.    See  Fall,  Sin. 

DEPRECATORY,  a  term  ap- 
plied to  the  manner  of  performing 
some  ceremonies  in  the  form  of 
prayer.  The  form  of  absolution  in 
the  Greek  church  is  deprecative, 
thus  expressed — May  God  absolve 
you;  whereas  in  the  Latin  church 
it  is  declarative — I  absolve  you. 

DESCENT  of  Christ  into  Hell. 
See  Hell. 

DESERTION,aterm  made  use 
of  to  denote  an  unhappy  state  of 


DES 


225 


DES 


mind,  occasioned  by  the  sensible 
influences  of  the  Divine  favour 
being  withdrawn.  -  Some  of,  the 
best  men  in  all  ages  have  suffered 
a  temporary  suspension  of  Divine 
enjoyments.  Job  xxix,  2.  Ps.  li. 
Isa.  xlix,  14.  Lam.  iii,  1.  Isa.  1,  10. 
The  causes  of  this  must  not  be  at- 
tributed to  the  Almif^hty,  since  he 
is  always  the  same,  but  must  arise 
from  ourselves.  Neglect  of  duty, 
improper  views  of  Providence, 
self-confidence,  a  worldly  spirit, 
luke-warmness  of  mind,  inatten- 
tion to  the  means  of  grace,  or  open 
transgression,  may  be  considered 
as  leading  to  this  state.  As  all 
things,  hov/ever,  are  under  the 
Divrne  control,  so  even  desertion., 
or,  as  it  is  sometimes  expressed 
in  scripture,  "  the  hidings  of 
God's  face,"  may  be  useful  to  ex- 
cite humility,  exercise  faith  and 
patience,  detach  us  from  the  world, 
prompt  to  more  vigorous  action, 
bring  us  to  look  more  to  God  as 
the  fountain  of  happiness,  conform 
us  to  his  word,  and  increase  our 
desires  for  that  state  of  blessedness 
which  is  to  cOme.  Hervey^s  Tlier. 
and  Asp.,  dial,  xix ;  Wattes  Medit. 
on  Job  xxiii,  3  ;  Lambert's  Serm., 
vol.  i,  ser,  16;  Flavefs  Works, 
vol.  i,  p.  167,  folio. 

Desire  is  an  eagerness  to  obtain 
or  enjoy  an  object  which  we  sup- 
pose to  be  good.  Those  desires, 
says  Dr.  Watts,  that  arise  without 
any  express  ideas  of  the  goodness 
or  agreeableness  of  their  object  to 
the  mind  beforehand,  such  as 
hunger,  thirst,  &c.,  are  called 
appetites.  Those  which  arise  from 
our  perception  or  opinion  of  an 
object  as  good  or  agreeable,  are 
most     properly    called    passions. 

Vol.  I.  G  g 


Sometimes  both  these  are  united. 
If  our  desire  to  do  or  receive 
good  be  not  violent,  it  is  called  a 
simple  inclination  or  propensity. 
When  it  rises  high,  it  is  termed 
longing  :  when  our  desires  set  our 
active  powers  at  work  to  obtain 
the  very  same  good,  or  the  same 
sort  of  good,  which  another  de- 
sires, it  is  called  emulation.  De- 
sire of  pleasures  of  sense,  is  called 
sensuality ;  of  honour,  is  called 
ambition  ;  of  riches,  covetousness. 
The  objects  of  a  good  man's  de- 
sires are,  thatGodmay  be  glorified, 
his  sins  forgiven  and  subdued,  his 
affections  enlivened  and  placed  on 
God  as  the  supreme  object  of 
love,  his  afflictions  sanctified,  and 
his  life  devoted  to  the  service  of 
God,  Prov.  xi,  23.  Ps,  cv,  19. 

DESPAIR,  loss  of  hope;  that 
state  of  mind  in  which  a  person 
loses  his  confidence  in  the  Divin"e 
mercy. 

Some  of  the  best  antidotes 
against  despair,  says  one,  may 
be  taken  from  the  consideration, 
1.  Of  the  nature  of  God,  his 
goodness,  mercy,  &c. — 2.  The 
testimony  of  God :  he  hath  said, 
he  desireth  not  the  death  of  the 
sinner. — 3.  From  the  works  of 
God  :  he  hath  given  his  Son  to  die. 
— 4.  From  his  promises,  Heb.  xiii, 
5. — 5.  From  his  command  ;  he 
hath  commanded  us  to  confide  in 
mercy. — 6.  From  his  expostula- 
tions, &c.  Baxter  on  Religious 
Melancholy ;  Claude's  Essays,  p. 
388,  Robinson's  edit.  ;  Gisborne*s 
Sermon  on  Religious  Despondency, 

DESTRUCTIONISTS,  those 
who  believe  that  the  final  punish- 
ment threatened  in  the  gospel  to  the 
wicked  and  impenitent  consists  not 


DE  S 


226 


DES 


in  an  eternal  preservation  inmisery 
and  torment,  but  in  a  total  extinc- 
tion of  being ;  and  that  the  sen- 
tence of  annihilation  shall  be  exe- 
cuted with  more  or  less  torment, 
preceding  or  attending  the  final 
period,  in  proportion  to  the  greater 
or  less  guilt  of  the  criminal. 

The  name  assumed  by  this  de- 
nomination, like  those  of  many 
others,  takes  for  granted  the  ques- 
tion in  dispute ;  viz.,  that  the  scrip- 
tm-e  word  destruction  means  anni- 
hilation :  in  strict  propriety  of 
speech,  they  should  be  called  ^■^nnz- 
hilationlsts.  The  doctrine  is  large- 
ly maintained  in  the  sermons  of 
T^r.  Samuel  Bourn,  of  Birming- 
ham ;  it  was  held  also  by  Mr.  J.  N. 
Scott ;  Mr.  John  Taylor,  of  Nor- 
wich ;  Mr.  Marsom  ;  and  many 
others. 

In  defence  of  the  system,  Mr. 
Bourn  argues  as  follows  :  There 
are  many  passages  of  scripture  in 
which  the  ultimate  punishment  to 
which  wicked  men  shall  be  adjudg- 
ed is  defined,  in  the  most  precise 
and  intelligible  terms,  to  be  an 
everlasting  destruction  from  the 
power  of  God,  which  is  equally 
able  to  destroy  as  to  preserve.  So 
v/hen  our  Saviour  is  fortifying  the 
minds  of  his  disciples  against  the 
power  of  men,  by  an  awe  of  the 
far  greater  power  of  God,  and  the 
punishment  of  his  justice,  he  ex- 
presses himself  thus :  i^ear  wc?  i^em 
that  kill  the  body^  and  after  that 
have  no  more  that  they  can  do;  fear 
him  "who  is  able  to  destroy  both  soul 
and  body  in  hell.  Here  he  plainly 
proposes  the  destruction  of  the 
soul  (not  its  endless  pain  and  mi- 
sery) as  the  ultimate  object  of  the 
iirine  displeasure,  and  greatest  ob- 


ject of  our  fear.  And  when  he 
says.  These  shall  go  azvayintoeve?-- 
lasting  punishment,  but  therighte- 
ous  into  life  eternal,  it  appears  evi- 
dent that  hyih2Lt  eternal  punishment 
which  is  set  in  opposition  to  eternal 
life,  is  not  meant  any  kind  of  life, 
however  miserable,  but  the  same 
which  the  apostle  expresses  by 
everlasting  destruction  from  the 
presence  and  power  of  the  Lord. 
The  very  term,  death,  is  most  fre- 
quently made  use  of  to  signify  the 
end  of  wicked  men  in  another 
world,  or  the  final  effect  of  divine 
justice  in  their  punishment.  The 
zvages  of  sin  (saith  the  apostle)  is 
death  ;  but  eternal  life  is  the  gift  of 
God,  through  fesus  Christ  our 
Lord.     See  also  Rom.  viii,  6. 

To  imagine  that  by  the  term 
death  is  meant  an  eternal  life, 
though  in  a  condition  of  extreme 
misery,  seems,  according  to  him, 
to  be  confounding  all  propriety 
and  meaning  of  words.  Death, 
when  applied  to  the  end  of  wicked 
men  in  a  future  state,  he  says,  pro- 
perly denotes  a  total  extinction  of 
life  and  being.  It  may  contribute, 
he  acids,  to  fix  this  meaning,  if  we 
observe  that  the  state  to  which 
temporal  death  reduces  men  is 
usually  termed  by  our  Saviour  and 
his  apostles,  sleep ;  because  from 
this  death  the  soul  shall  be  raised 
to  life  again  :  but  from  the  other, 
which  is  fully  and  properly  death, 
and  of  which  the  former  is  but  an 
image  or  shadow,  there  is  no  re- 
covery ;  it  is  an  eternal  death,  an 
everlasting  destruction  from  the 
presence  of  the  Lord,  and  the  glory 
of  his  power. 

He  next  proceeds  to  the  figures 
by  which  the  eternal  punishment 


DES 


227 


DES 


of  wicked  men  is  described,  and 
finds  them  perfectly  agreeing  to 
establish  the  same  doctrine.  One 
figure  or  comparison,  often  used, 
is  that  of  combustible  materials 
thrown  into  a  fire,  which  will  con- 
sequently be  entirely  consumed,  if 
the  fire  be  not  quenched.  Depart 
from  mcj  ye  cursed.^  into  everlast- 
ing fire^  prepared  for  the  devil 
and  his  angels.  The  meaning  is, 
a  total,  irrevocable  destruction : 
ybr,  as  the  tree  that  bringeth  not 
forth  good  fruit  is  hewn  down^  and 
cast  into  the  fre^  and  is  destroyed  ; 
as  the  useless  chaff,  when  separat- 
ed from  the  good  grain,  is  set  on 
fire,  and,  if  the  fire  be  not  quench- 
ed, is  consumed  ;  so,  he  thinks^  it 
plainly  appears,  that  the  image  of 
unquenchable  or  everlasting  fire  is 
not  intended  to  signify  the  degree 
or  duration  of  torment,  but  the 
absolute  certainty  of  destruction, 
beyond  allpossibility  of  a  recovery. 
So  the  cities  of  Sodom  and  Go- 
morrah are  said  to  have  suffered 
the  vengeance  of  an  eternal  f  re ; 
that  is,  they  were  so  effectually 
consumed,  or  destroyed,  that  they 
could  never  be  rebuilt  j  the  phrase, 
eternal  fre^  signifying  the  irrevo- 
cable destruction  of  those  cities, 
not  the  degree  or  duration  of  the 
misery  of  the  inhabitants  who  pe- 
rished. 

The  images  of  the  worm  that 
dieth  not^  and  the  fre  that  is 
not  quenched^  used  in  Mark  ix, 
43,  are  set  in  opposition  to  en- 
tei-ing  into  life,  and  intended  to 
denote  a  period  of  life  and  ex- 
istence. 

Our  Saviour  expressly  assigns 
different  degrees  of  future  misery, 
in  proportion  to  men's  respective 
degrees  of  guilt,  I-uke  xii,  47.  48. 


But  if  all  wicked  men  shall  suffer 
torments  without  end,  how  can 
any  of  them  be  said  to  suffer  but 
a  few  stripes  ?  All  degrees  and 
distinctions  of  punishment  seem 
swallowed  up  in  the  notion  of 
never-ending  or  infinite  misery. 

Finally,  death  and  eternal  de- 
struction, or  annihilation,  is  pro- 
perly styled  in  the  New  Testa- 
ment an  everlasting  punishment, 
as  it  is  irrevocable  and  unalterable 
for  ever ;  and  it  is  most  strictly 
and  literally  styled,  an  everlasting 
destruction  from  the  presence  of 
the  Lord.,  and  from  the  glory  of  his 
power. 

Dr.  Edwards,  in  his  answer  to 
Dr.  Chauncy,  on  the  salvation  of 
all  men.,  says  that  this  scheme 
was  provisionally  retained  by  Dr. 
C. ;  i.  e.  in  case  the  scheme  of 
universal  salvation  should  fail  him: 
and  therefore  Dr.  E.,  in  his  exa- 
mination of  that  work,  appropri- 
ates a  chapter  to  the  consideration 
of  it.  Among  other  reasonings 
against  it  are  the  following: 

1.  The  different  degrees  of  pu- 
nishment which  the  wicked  will 
suflfer  according  to  their  works 
proves  that  it  does  not  consist  in 
annihilation,  which  admits  of  no 
degrees. 

2.  If  it  be  said  that  the  punish- 
ment of  the  v/icked,  though  it  will 
end  in  annihilation,  yet  shall  be 
preceded  by  torment,  and  that 
this  will  be  of  different  degrees 
according  to  the  degrees  of  sin  ; 
it  may  be  replied,  this  is  mak' 
ing  it  to  be  compounded  partly 
of  torment,  and  partly  of  annihi- 
lation. I'iie  latter  also  appears  to 
be  but  a  small  part  of  future  pu- 
nishment, for  that  alone  will  be 
inflicted  on  the  least  sinner,  and 


DES 


228 


DES 


on  account  of  the  least  sin;  and 
all  that  punishment  which  will  be 
inflicted  on  any  person  above  that 
which  is  due  to  the  least  sin,  is  to 
consist  in  tornaent.  Nay,  if  we 
can  form  any  idea  in  the  present 
state  of  what  would  be  dreadful  or 
desirable  in  another,  instead  of  its 
being  any  punishment  to  be  anni- 
hilated after  a  long  series  of  tor- 
ment, it  must  be  a  deliverance,  to 
which  the  sinner  would  look  for- 
ward with  anxious  desire.  And 
is  it  credible  that  it  was  this  termi- 
nation of  torment  that  our  Lord 
held  up  to  his  disciples  as  an  object 
of  dread?  Can  this  be  the  de- 
struction of  body  and  soul  in  hell  ? 
Is  it  credible  that  everlasting  de- 
struction from  the  presence  of  the 
Lord,  and  from  the  glory  of  his 
power,  should  constitute  only  a 
part,  and  a  small  part,  of  future 
punishment;  and  such,  too,  as 
after  a  series  of  torment,  must 
next  to  being  made  happy,  be  the 
most  acceptable  thing  that  could 
befal  them  ?  Can  this  be  the  ob- 
ject threatened  by  such  language, 
as  recompensing  tribulation^  and 
taking  vengeance  in  flaming  fire  I 
2d  Thess.  i.  Is  it  possible  that 
God  should  threaten  them  with 
putting  an  end  to  their  miseries? 
Moreover,  this  destruction  is  not 
described  as  the  conclusion  of  a 
succession  of  torments,  but  as  tak- 
ing place  immediately  after  the 
last  judgment.  When  Christ  shall 
come  to  be  glorified  in  his 
saints,  then  shall  the  wicked  be 
destroyed. 

3.  Everlasting  destruction  from 
the  presence  of  the  Lord^  and  from 
the  glory  of  his  powers  cannot 
mean  annihilation,  for  that  vrould 


ht  no  exertion  of  divine  power, 
but  merely  the  suspension  of  it : 
let  but  the  upholding  power  of 
God  be  withheld  for  one  moment, 
and  the  whole  creation  would  sink 
into  nothing. 

4.  The  punishment  of  wicked 
men  will  be  the  same  as  that  of 
wicked  angels,  Matt,  xxv,  41. 
Depart,  ye  cursed,  into  everlast- 
ing fire,  prepared  for  the  devil  and 
his  angels.  But  the  punishment 
of  wicked  angels  consists  not  in 
annihilation,  but  torment.  Such 
is  their  present  punishment  in  a 
degree,  and  such  in  a  greater  degree 
will  be  their  punishment  hereafter. 
They  are  "-cast  down  to  hell;'* 
they  "believe  and  tremble  ;"  they 
are  reserved  in  chains  under  dark- 
ness, to  the  judgment  of  the  great 
day;  they  cried,  saying.  What  hav« 
we  to  do  with  thee  ?  Art  thou  come 
to  toriuent  us  before  our  time  ?" 
Could  the  devils  but  persuade 
themselves  that  they  should  be  an- 
nihilated, they  would  believe  and 
be  at  ease  rather  than  tremble. 

5.  The  scriptures  explain  their 
own  meaning  in  the  use  of  such 
terms  as  death,  destruction,  &c. 
The  second  death  is  expressly  said 
to  consist  in  being  cast  into  the  lake 
of  fire  and  brimstone,  and  as  hav- 
ing a  part  in  that  lake.  Rev.  xx, 
14.  xxi,  8 ;  which  does  not  describe 
annihilation,  nor  can  it  be  made  to 
consist  with  it.  The  phrase  cut 
him  asunder.  Matt,  xxiv,  51,  is  as 
strong  as  those  ai death,  or  destruc- 
tion ;  yet  that  is  made  to  con- 
sist of  having  their  portion  rvith 
hypocrites,  -where  shall  be  xveep- 
ing  and  gnashing  of  teeth. 

6.  The  happiness  of  the  righteous 
does  not  consist  in  eternal  beings 


D  ET 


229 


DE  V 


but  eternal  xvell-being  ;  and  as  the 
punishment  of  the  wicked  stands 
every  where  opposed  to  it,  it  must 
consist  not  in  the  loss  of  being,  but 
U  xvell-being^  and  in  suffering  the 
contrary." 

The  great  Dr.  Watts  may  be 
considered,  in  some  measure,  a 
destructionist ;  since  it  was  his 
opinion  that  the  children  of  un- 
godly parents  who  die  in  infancy 
are  annihilated.  See  Annihila- 
tion, Hell  ;  Bourn's  Serraons ; 
Dr.  Edwards  on  the  Salvation  of 
all  Men  strictly  exa7nined;  Adams's 
Viexv  of  Religions. 

DETRACTION,  inthenative 
importance  of  the  word,  signifies 
the  withdrawing  or  taking  oif  from 
a  thing;  and  as  it  is  applied  to  the 
reputation,  it  denotes  the  impair- 
ing or  lessening  a  man  in  point  of 
fame,  rendering  him  less  valued 
and  esteemed  by  others.  Dr. 
Barrow  observes  (Works,  vol.  i, 
ser.  19),  that  it  differs  from 
dander^  .which  involves  an  imputa- 
tion of  falsehood  ;  from  reviling 
which  includes  bitter  and  foul 
language  ;  and  from  censuring^ 
which  is  of  a  more  general  pur- 
port, extending  indifferendy  to 
all  kinds  of  persons,  quahties,  and 
actions  ;  but  detraction  especially 
respects  worthy  persons,  good  qua- 
lities, and  laudable  actions,  the 
reputation  of  which  it  aimeth  to 
destroy.  It  is  a  fault  opposed  to 
candour. 

Nothing  can  be  more  incon- 
gruous with  the  spirit  of  the  gos- 
pel, the  example  of  Christ,  the 
command  of  God,  and  the  love  of 
mankind,  than  a  spirit  of  detrac- 
tion ;  and  yet  there  are  many  who 
.  never  seem  happy  but  when  they 
are  employed  in  this  work :  they 


feed  and  live  upon  the  supposed  in- 
firmities of  others  ;  they  allow  eX' 
cellence  to  none  ;  they  depreciate 
every  thing  that  is  praise-worthy; 
and,  possessed  of  no  good  them- 
selves, they  think  all  others  are 
like  them.  "  O  !  my  soul,  come 
thou  not  into  their  secret ;  unto 
their  assembly,  mine  honour  be 
not  thou  united." 

DEVIL,  A/aCox®-,  calumniator, 
or  slanderer  ;  a  fallen  angel,  espe- 
cially the  chief  of  them.  He  is 
called  Abaddon  in  Hebrew,  Apol- 
lyon  in  Greek,  that  is,  destroyer. 
— Angel  of  the  bottomless  pit, 
Rev.  ix,  11. — Prince  of  the  world, 
John  xii,  31. — Prince  of  darkness, 
Eph.  vi,  12. — A  roaring  lion,  and 
an  adversary,  1st  Pet.  v,  8. — A 
sinner  from  the  beginning,  1  st  John 
iii,  8. — Beelzebub,  Matt,  xii,  24, 
— Accuser,  Rev.  xii,  10. — Belial, 
2d  Cor.  vi,  15. — Deceiver,  Rev. 
XX,  10. — Dragon,  Rev.  xii,  3. — 
Liar,  John  viii,  44 — Leviathan, 
Isa.  xxvii,  1. — Lucifer,  Isa.  xiv, 
12. — Murderer,  John  viii,  4t. — 
Serpent,  Isa.  xxvii,  1. — Satan, 
Job  ii,  G. — Tormentor,  Matt. 
xViii,  34. — The  god  of  this  world, 
2d  Cor.  iv,  4.     See  Satan. 

DEVOTEE,  in  the  primary 
sense  of  the  word,  means  a  person 
wholly  given  up  to  acts  of  piety  and 
devotion  ;  but  it  is  usually  under- 
stood, in  a  bad  sense,  to  denote  a 
bigot,  or  superstitious  person. 

DEVOTION,  a  religious  and 
fervent  exercise  of  some  public  act 
of  religion,  or  a  temper  and  dis- 
position of  the  mind  rightly  af- 
fected with  such  exercises.  It  is 
also  taken  for  certain  religious 
practices  which  a  person  makes 
it  a  rule  to  discharge  regularly. 
' "  Wherever  the  vital  and  unadulte- 


DEU 


230 


DEU 


rated  spirit  of  christian  devotion 
prevails,  its  immediate  objects  will 
be  to  adore  the  perfections  of  God; 
to  entertain  with  reverence  and 
complacence  the  various  intima- 
tions of  his  pleasure,  especially 
those  contained  in  holy  writ ;  to 
acknowledge  our  absolute  depend- 
ence on  and  infinite  obligations  to 
him  ;  to  confess  and  lament  the 
disorders  of  our  nature,  and  the 
transgressions  of  our  lives ;  to  im- 
plore his  grace  and  mercy  through 
Jesus  Christ ;  to  intercede  for  our 
brethren  of  mankind  ;  to  pray  for 
the  propagation  and  establishment 
of  truth,  righteousness,  and  peace, 
on  earth  ;  in  fine,  to  long  for  a 
more  entire  conformity  to  the 
will  of  God,  and  to  breathe  after 
the  everlasting  enjoyment  of  his 
friendship.  The  effects  of  such  a 
spirit  habitually  cherished,  and 
feelingly  expressed  before  him, 
must  surely  be  important  and  hap- 
py. Among  these  may  be  reckon- 
ed a  profound  humility  in  the  sight 
of  God,  a  high  veneration  for  his 
presence  and  attributes,  an  ardent 
zeal  for  his  worship  and  honour, 
a  constant  imitation  of  our  Sa- 
viour's divine  example,  a  diffusive 
charity  for  men  of  all  denomina- 
tions, a  generous  and  unwearied 
self-denial,  a  total  resignation  to 
Providence,  an  increasing  esteem 
for  the  gospel,  with  clearer  and 
firmer  hopes  of  that  immortal  life 
which  it  has  brought  to  light." 

DEUTEROCANONICAL, 
in  the  school  of  theology,  an  ap- 
pellation given  to  certain  books  of 
holy  scripture,  which  were  added 
to  the  canon  after  the  rest,  either 
by  reason  they  were  not  wrote 
till  after  the    compilation  of  the 


canon,  or  by  reason  of  some  dis- 
pute as  to  their  canonicity.  The 
word  is  Greek,  being  compounded 
of  ^svTc^os,  second;  and  xavoixxoi,  ca- 
nonicaL 

The  Jews,  it  is  certain,  acknow- 
ledged several  books  in  their  ca- 
non, which  were  put  there  later 
than  the  rest.  They  say  that,  un- 
der Esdras,  a  great  assembly  of 
their  doctors,  which  they  call,  by 
way  of  eminence,  the  great  syyia- 
gogue^  made  the  collection  of  the 
sacred  books  which  we  now  have 
in  the  Hebrew  Old  Testament ; 
and  they  agree  that  they  put 
books  therein  which  had  not  been 
so  before  the  Babylonish  captivity; 
such  are  those  of  Daniel,  Ezekiel, 
Haggai,  &c. ;  and  those  of  Esdras 
and  Nehemiah.  And  the  Romish 
church  has  since  added  others  to 
the  canon,  that  were  not,  and 
could  not  be,  in  the  canon  of  the 
Jews,  by  reason  some  of  them  were 
not  composed  till  after.  Such  is 
the  book  of  Ecclesiasticus,  with 
several  of  the  apocryphal  bopks, 
as  the  Maccabees,  Wisdom,  &c. 
Others  were  added  still  later,  by 
reason  their  canonicity  had  not 
been  yet  examined  ;  and  till  such 
examen  and  judgnlent  they  might 
be  set  aside  at  pleasure.  But 
since  that  church  has  pronounced 
as  to  the  canonicity  of  these  books, 
there  is  no  more  room  now  for 
her  members  to  doubt  of  them, 
than  there  was  for  the  Jews  to 
doubt  of  those  of  the  canon  of 
Esdras.  Andthe  deuterocanonical 
books  are  with  them  as  canonical 
as  the  proto-canonical ;  the  only 
difference  between  them  consisting 
in  this,  that  the  canonicity  of  the 
one  was  not  generally  known,  ex- 


DIE 


DIE 


amined,  and  setded,  so  soon  as 
that  of  the  others.  The  deutero- 
canonical  books  in  the  modem 
canon  are,  the  book  of  Esther, 
either  the  whole  or  at  least  the 
seven  last  chapters  thereof;  the 
epistle  to  the  Hebrews ;  that  of 
James,  and  that  of  Jude  ;  the  se- 
cond of  St.  Peter,  the  second  and 
third  of  St.  John,  and  the  Re- 
velation. The  deuterocanonical 
parts  of  books  are,  the  hymn  of  the 
three  children  ;  the  prayer  of  Aza- 
riah ;  the  histories  of  Susannah, 
of  Bel  and  the  Dragon ;  the  last 
chapter  of  St.  Mark ;  the  bloody 
sweat ;  and  the  appearance  of  the 
angel  related  in  St.  Luke,  chap, 
xxii,  and  the  history  of  the  adul- 
terous woman  in  St.  John,  chap, 
viii.     See  Canon. 

DIET,  an  assembly  of  the  states 
of  Germany.  We  shall  only  take 
notice,  in  this  place,  of  the  more 
remarkable  of' those  which  have 
been  held  on  the  affairs  of  reli- 
gion. 1.  The  diet  of  Augsburgh, 
in  the  year  1530,  was  assembled  to 
re-unite  the  princes  of  the  empire 
in  relation  to  some  religious  mat- 
ters. The  emperor  himself  pre- 
sided in  this  assembly  with  the 
greatest  magnificence  imaginable. 
The  elector  of  Saxony,  followed 
by  several  princes,  presented  the 
confession  of  faith,  called  the 
confession  of  Augsburgh.  The 
emperor  ended  the  diet  with  a  de- 
cree that  no  alteration  should  be 
made  in  the  doctrine  and  cere- 
monies of  the  Romish  church  till 
a  council  should  order  it  other- 
wise.— 2.  The  diet  of  Augsburgh, 
in  1547,  was  held  on  account  of 
the  electors  being  divided  concern- 


ing the  decisions  of  the  council  of 
Trent.  The  emperor  demanded 
that  the  management  of  that  affair 
should  be  referred  to  him  ;  and  it 
was  resolved,  that  every  one  should 
conform  to  the  decisions  of  the 
council. — 3.  The  diet  of  Augs- 
burgh, in  1548,  was  assembled  to 
examine  some  memorials  relating 
to  the  confession  of  faith ;  but,  the 
commissioners  not  agreeing  to- 
gether, the  emperor  named  three 
divines,  who  drew  the  design  of 
that  famous  interim,  so  well 
known  in  Germany  and  elsewhere. 
See  Interim. — 4.  The  diet  of 
Augsburgh,  in  1550.  In  this  as- 
sembly the  emperor  complained 
that  the  interim  was  not  observed, 
and  demanded  that  all  should  sub- 
mit to  the  council,  which  they 
were  going  to  renew  at  Trent ; 
which  submission  was  resolved 
upon  by  a  plurality  of  votes. — 5. 
The  diet  of  Nuremburgh,  in  1523. 
Here  pope  Adrian  Vlth's  nuncio 
demanded  the  execution  of  Leo 
Xth's  bull,  and  Charles  the  Vth's 
edict  against  Luther.  But  the  iis- 
sembly  drew  up  a  list  of  grievan- 
ces, which  were  reduced  to  an 
hundred  articles,  some  whereof 
aimed  at  the  destruction  of  the 
pope's  authority,  and  the  discipline 
of  the  Romish  church  ;  however, 
they  consented  that  the  Lutherans 
should  be  commanded  not  to  write 
against  the  Roman  Catholics. — 6. 
The  diet  of  Nuremburgh,  in  1524. 
In  this  assembly,  the  Lutherans 
having  the  advantage,  it  was  de- 
creed that  the  pope  should  call  a 
council  in  Germany  ;  but  that,  in 
the  mean  time,  an  assembly  should 
be  held  at  Spire,  to  determine  what 


DIE 


232 


DIL 


was  to  be  believed  and  practised  ; 
feut  Charles  V  prohibited  the  hold- 
ing this  assembly. — 7.  The  diet  of 
Ratisbon,  in  1541,  was  held  for 
re-uniting  the  protestants  with  the 
Roman  Catholics.  The  emperor 
named  three  Roman  Catholics  and 
three  Protestant  divines,  to  agree 
upon  articles.  The  Roman  ca- 
tholics were,  Julius  Phlug,  John 
Gropper,  and  John  Eckius  ;  the 
Protestants  were  Philip  Melanc- 
thon,  Martin  Bucer,  and  John 
Pistorius ;  but,  after  a  whole 
month's  consultation,  they  could 
agree  upon  no  more  than  five  or 
six  articles  ;  which  the  emperor 
consented  the  Protestants  should 
retain,  forbidding  them  to  solicit 
any  body  to  change  the  ancient 
religion. — 8.  The  diet  of  Ratisbon, 
in  1546,  decreed  that  the  council 
of  Trent  was  to  be  followed, 
which  was  opposed  by  the  Protest- 
ant deputies  ;  and  this  caused  a 
war  against  them. — 9.The  diet  of 
Ratisbon,  in  1557,  demanded  a 
conference  between  some  famous 
doctors  of  both  parties  ;  which 
conference  was  held  at  Worms,  in 
September,  between  twelve  Ro- 
man Catholic  and  twelve  Lutheran 
divines ;  but  was  soon  dissolved 
by  the  Lutherans  being  divided 
among  themselves. — 10.  The  diet 
of  Spire,  in  1526.  In  this  as- 
senibly{whereinpresidedthe  arch- 
duke Ferdinand)  the  duke  of 
Saxony,  and  the  landgrave  of 
Hesse,  demanded  the  free  exer- 
cise of  the  Lutheran  religion : 
upon  which  it  was  decreed,  that 
the  emperor  should  be  desired  to 
call  a  general,  or  national,  council 
in  Germany  within  a  year,  and 
that,   in   the    mean   time,    every 


one  should  have  liberty  of  con- 
science.—11.  The  diet  of  Spire,  in 
1529,  decreed,  that  in  the  coun- 
tries which  had  embraced  the  new 
religion,  it  should  be  lawful  to 
continue  in  it  till  the  next  council ; 
but  that  no  Roman  Catholic  should 
be  allowed  to  turn  Lutheran. 
Against  this  decree  six  Lutheran 
princes,  viz.  the  elector  of  Saxony, 
the  marquis  of  Brandenbourg,  the 
two  dukes  of  Lunenbourg,  the 
landgrave  of  Hesse,  and  the  prince 
of  Anhalt,  with  the  deputies  of 
fourteen  imperial  towns,  protested 
in  writing ;  from  which  solemn 
protestation  came  the  famous 
name  of  Protestants,  which  the 
Lutherans  presently  after  took.— 
12.  The  diet  of  Worms,  in  1521. 
In  this  assembly,  Luther  being 
charged  by  the  pope's  nuncio  with 
heresy,  and  refusing  to  recant,  the 
emperor,  by  his  edict  of  May  26, 
before  all  the  princes  of  Germany, 
publicly  outlawed  him. 

DIFFIDENCE,  distrust,  want 
of  confidence  in  ourselves.  Diffi- 
dence, says  Dr.  Johnson,  may 
check  resolution  and  obstruct  per- 
formance, but  compensates  its 
embarrassment  by  more  important 
advantages  ;  it  conciliates  the 
proud,  and  softens  the  severe ; 
averts  envy  from  excellence,  and 
censure  from  miscarriage. 

DIGGERS,  a  denomination 
which  sprung  up  in  Germany,  in 
the  fifteenth  century ;  so  called  be- 
cause they  dug  their  assemblies 
under  ground  in  caves  and  forests. 
They  derided  the  church,  its 
ministers'  and  sacraments. 

DILIGENCE,  christian,  is  con- 
stancy in  the  performance  of  all 
those  duties  enjoined  us  in  God's 


DIR 


^55 


£)IR 


sJicfed  word.  '  It  includes  activity 
and  vigour — watchfulness  against 
intruding  objects — firmness  and 
resolution — patience  and  perse- 
verance. The  shortness  of  our 
time ;  the  importance  of  our  work ; 
the  pleasure  which  arises  from  dis- 
charging duty ;  the  uncertainty  of 
the  time  of  our  dissolution ;  the 
consciousness  we  do  not  labour  in 
vain ;  together  with  the  example 
of  Christ  and  all  good  men,  should 
excite  us  to  the  most  unwearied 
diligence  in  the  cause  of  God,  of 
truth,  and  our  own  souls. 

DIMISSORY  LETTER,  a 
letter  given  by  a  bishop  to  a  candi- 
date for  holy  orderfe,  having  a  title 
ih  his  diocese,  directed  to  some 
other  bishop,  and  giving  leave  for 
the  bearer  to  be  ordained  by  him. 

DIOCESE,  the  circuit  of  every 
bishop's  jurisdiction.  It  is  formed 
from  the  Greek  ^lotKifia-is,  govern- 
ment. 

DIRECTORY,  a  kind  of  regu- 
lation for  the  performance  of  reli- 
gious worship,  drawn  up  by  the 
assembly  of  divines  in  England,  at 
the  instance  of  the  parliament,  in 
1644.  It  was  designed  to  supply 
the  place  of  the  Liturgy,  or  Book 
of  Common  Prayer,  the  use  of 
which  they  had  abolished.  It  con- 
sisted of  some  generalheads,  which 
were  to  be  managed  and  filled  up 
at  discretion  ;  for  it  prescribed  no 
form  of  prayer,  or  circumstances 
of  external  worship,  nor  obliged 
the  people  to  any  responses,  ex- 
cepting Amen.  The  substance  of 
it  is  as  follows  : — It  forbids  all  sa- 
lutations and  civil  cereinony  in 
the  churches  ; — the  I'eading  the 
scriptures  in  the  congregation  is 
declared  to  be  part  of  the  pastoral 

Vol.  I.  lih 


oifKce ; — all  the  canonical  bd6k§ 
of  the  Old  and  New  Testaments 
(but  not  of  the  Apocrypha)  are 
to  be  publicly  read  in  the  vulgar 
tongue  :  how  large  a  portion  is 
to  be  read  at  once,  is  left  to  the 
minister,  who  has  likewise  the 
liberty  of  expounding,  when  he 
judges  it  necessary.  It  prescribes 
heads  for  the  prayer  before  ser- 
mon ;  it  delivers  rules  for  preach- 
ing the  word  ;  the  introduction  to 
the  text  must  be  short  and  clear, 
drawn  from  the  words  or  context, 
or  some  parallel  place  of  scripture. 
In  dividing  the  text,  the  minister 
is  to  regard  the  order  of  the 
matter  more  than  that  of  the 
words :  he  is  not  to  burden  the 
memory  of  his  audience  with  too 
many  divisions,  nor  perplex  their 
understandings  with  logical  phrases 
and  terms  of  arts;  he  is  not  to 
start  unnecessary  objections  ;  and 
he  is  to  be  very  sparing  in  cita- 
tions from  ecclesiastical  or  other 
human  writers,  ancient  or  mo- 
dern, &c.  The  Directory  recom- 
mends the  use  of  the  Lord's 
Prayer,  as  the  most  perfect  model 
of  devotion  ;  it  forbids  private  or 
lay  persons  to  administer  baptism, 
and  enjoins  it  to  be  performed  in 
the  face  of  the  congregation ;  it 
orders  the  communion-table  at 
the  Lord's  Supper  to  be  so  placed, 
that  the  communicants  may  sit 
about  it.  It  also  orders,  that  the 
sabbath  be  kept  with  the  greatest 
strictness,  both  publicly  and  pri- 
vately ;  that  marriage  be  solem- 
nized by  a  lawful  minister  of  the 
word,  who  is  to  give  counsel  to, 
and  pray  for  the  parties ;  that 
the  sick  be  visited  by  the  minister 
under  whose  charge  they  are  ;  the 


DIS 


234 


DIS 


dead  to  be  buried  witbout  any 
prayers  or  religious  ceremonies; 
that  days  of  fasting  are  to  be  ob- 
served when  the  judgments  of 
God  are  abroad,  or  when  some 
important  blessings  are  desired ; 
that  days  of  thanksgiving  for  mer- 
cies received  be  also  observed ; 
and,  lastly,  that  singing  of  psalms 
together  in  the  congregation  is  the 
duty  of  christians.  In  an  ap- 
pendix to  this  Directory  it  is 
Ordered,  that  all  festivals,  vul- 
garly called  holy  days,  are  to  be 
abolished  ;  that  no  day  is  to  be 
kept  but  the  Lord's  day;  and  that 
as  no  place  is  capable  of  any  ho- 
liness under  pretence  of  consecra- 
tion, so  neither  is  it  subject  to 
pollution  by  any  superstition  for- 
merly used  ;  and  therefore  it  is 
held  requisite,  that  the  places  of 
public  worship  now  used  should 
still  be  continued  and  employed. 
Should  the  reader  be  desii^ous  of 
perusing  this  Directory  at  large, 
he  may  find  it  at  the  end  of  NeaPs 
History  of  the  Puritans. 

DISCIPLINE,  Church,  con- 
sists in  putting  church  laws  in  ex- 
ecution, and  inflicting  the  penalties 
enjoined.     See  Church. 

"discipline.  Book  of,  in  the 
history  of  the  church  of  Scotland, 
is  a  common  order  drawn  up  by 
the  assembly  of  ministers  in  1 650, 
for  the  refonnationand  uniformity 
to  be  observed  in  the  discipline  and 
policy  of  the  church.  In  this 
book  the  government  of  the  church 
by  prelates  is  set  aside  ;  kirk  ses- 
sions are  established  ;  the  super- 
stitious observation  of  fast  days 
jlnd  saint  days  is  condemned,  and 
other  regulations  for  the  govern- 
ment of  the  church  are  deter- 
mined.    This  book  was  approved 


by  the  privy  council,  and  is  called 
the  first  book  of  discipline. 

DISCONTENT, uneasiness  at 
our  present  state. 

Man  never  appears  in  a  worse 
light  than  when  he  gives  way  to 
this  disposition.  It  is  at  once  the 
strongest  proof  of  his  pride,  ig- 
norance, unbelief,  and  rebellion 
against  God.  Let  such  remember, 
that  discontent  is  a  reflection  on 
God's  government ;  that  it  cannot 
alter  the  state  of  things,  or  make 
them  better ;  that  it  is  the  source 
of  the  greatest  misery  ;  that  it  is 
an  absolute  violation  of  God's 
law,  Heb.  xiii,  5 ;  and  that  God 
has  often  punished  it  with  the 
most  signal  judgments.  Numb,  xi, 
Ps.  cvii.     See  Contentment. 

DISCRETION,  prudent  be- 
haviour, arising  from  a  knowledge 
of  and  acting  agreeable  to  the  dif- 
ference of  things.  "  There  are,'* 
says  Addison,  No.  225  Spect., 
"  many  more  shining  qualitie* 
in  the  mind  of  man,  but  there  is 
none  so  useful  as  discretion  :  it  i$ 
this,  indeed,  which  gives  a  va- 
lue to  all  the  rest;  which  sets 
them  at  work  in  their  proper 
times  and  places,  and  turns  them 
to  the  advantage  of  the  person 
who  is  possessed  of  them.  Without 
it,  learning  is  pedantry,  and  wit 
impertinence  ;  virtue  itself  looks 
like  weakness  :  the  best  parts  only 
qualify  a  man  to  be  more  sprightly 
in  errors,  and  active  to  his  own 
prejudice. 

"  Discretion  is  a  very  different 
thing  from  cunning ;  cunning  is 
only  an  accomplishment  of  little, 
mean,  ungenerous  minds.  Discre-* 
tion  points  out  the  noblest  ends 
to  us,  and  pursues  the  most  pro- 
per and  laudable  methods  of  at- 


DIS 


235 


DIS 


taining  them  ;  cunning  has  only 
private  selfish  aims,  and  sticks  at 
nothing  which  may  make  them 
succeed.  Discretion  has  large  and 
extended  views,  and,  like  a  well 
formed  eye,  commands  a  whole 
horizon ;  cunning  is  a  kind  of 
short-sightedness  that  discovers 
the  minutest  objects  which  are 
near  at  hand,  but  is  not  able  to  dis- 
cern things  at  a  distance.  Dis- 
cretion, the  more  it  is  discovered, 
gives  a  great  authority  to  the  per- 
son who  possesses  it ;  cunning, 
when  it  is  once  detected,  loses  its 
force,  and  makes  a  man  incapable 
of  bringing  about  even  those  events 
which  he  might  have  done,  had  he 
passed  only  for  a  plain  man.  Dis- 
cretion is  the  perfection  of  reason, 
and  a  guide  to  us  in  all  the  duties 
of  life;  cunning  is  a  kind  of  in- 
stinct, that  only  looks  out  after 
our  immediate  interest  and  wel- 
fare. Discretion  is  only  found  in 
men  of  strong  sense  and  good  un- 
derstandings ;  cunning  is  often  to 
be  met  with  in  brutes  themselves, 
and  in  persons  who  are  but  the 
fewest  removes  from  them.  In 
short,  cunning  is  only  the  mimic 
of  discretion,  and  may  pass  upon 
weak  men,  in  the  same  manner 
as  vivacity  is  often  mistaken  for 
wit,  and  gravity  for  wisdom."  See 
Prudence. 

DISDAIN,  contempt,  as  un- 
worthy of  one's  choice.  It  is  dis- 
tinguished from  haughtiness  thus  : 
Haughtiness  is  founded  on  the 
high  opinion  we  have  of  ourselves ; 
disdain  on  the  low  opinion  we 
have  of  others. 

DISINTERESTED  LOVE. 
See  Self-love. 

DISPENSATION,  the  act  of 


dealing  out  any  thing.  The  two 
different  methods  of  revealing  the 
truths  of  the  gospel  before  and 
after  Christ's  death  are  called  the 
Old  and  New  Testaments  dispen- 
sations. The  dealing  of  God 
with  his  creatures  in  his  provi- 
dence is  called  a  dispensation. 
The  state  of  supernatural  or  re- 
vealed theology  maj^  also  be  di- 
vided into  six  dispensations.  1. 
From  the  fall  of  Adam  to  the 
flood. — 2.  From  Noah  to  the  giv- 
ing the  law. — 3.  From  that  time 
to  the  time  of  David  and  the  pro- 
phets.— 4.  From  David  to  the 
Babylonish  captivity.— 5,  The  pe- 
riod from  that,  to  the  time  of 
Christ,  finishes  the  Old  Testament 
dispensation. — 6.  From  Christ  to 
the  end  of  time,  the  gospel  dispen- 
sation. The  superiority  of  this 
last  dispensation,  as  Dr.  Watts  ob- 
serves, appears,  if  we  consider  that 
it  contains  the  fairest  and  fullest 
representation  of  the  moral  law ; 
and  which  is  more  particularly 
explained  here  than  in  any  of  the 
former  dispensations. — 2.  In  this 
dispensation  the  gospel  or  cove- 
nant of  grace  is  revealed  more 
perfectly  and  plainly  than  ever  be- 
fore ;  not  in  obscure  expressions, 
in  types  and  carnal  metaphors,  but 
in  its  own  proper  form  and  lan- 
guage.— 3.  The  rites  and  ceremo- 
nies under  this  dispensation  are 
preferable  to  those  in  former  times, 
and  that  in  three  respects :  they  are 
fewer,  clearer,  and  much  more  ea- 
sy.— 4.  The  Son  of  God,  who  was 
the  real  mediator  through  all  for- 
mer dispensations,  has  condescend- 
ed to  become  the  visible  mediator 
of  this  dispensation. — 5.  This  dis- 
pensation is  not  confined  to  one 


DIS 


236 


DIS 


family,  or  to  one  nation,  or  to  a 
few  ages  of  men,  but  it  spreads 
through  all  the  nations  of  the 
earth,  and  reaches  to  the  end  of 
time. — 6.The  encouragements  and 
persuasive  helps  which  Christianity 
gives  us  to  fulfil  the  duties  of  the 
covenant  are  much  superior  to 
those  which  were  enjoyed  under 
any  of  the  former  dispensations. 
Watts's  Works^  vol.  i,  ser.  47,  oct. : 
GilPs  Body  of  Div.^  Introd. ;  Ro- 
binson^ s  Sermons^  p.  Xf4;  Ridg- 
leifs  Div.^  qu.  35. 

DISPERSION  of  Mankind 
was  occasioned  by  the  confusion 
of  tongues  at  the  overthrow  of  Ba- 
bel, Gen.  xi,  9.  As  to  the  manner 
of  the  dispersion  of  the  posterity 
of  Noah  from  the  plain  of  Shinar, 
it  was  undoubtedly  conducted  with 
the  utmost  regularity  and  order. 
The  sacred  historian  informs  us 
that  they  were  divided  in  their 
lands  ;  every  one  according  to  his 
tongue,  according  to  his  family, 
and  according  to  his  nation.  Gen. 
X,  5,  20,  31.  The  ends  of  this 
dispersion  were  to  populate  the 
earth,  to  prevent  idolatry,  and  to 
display  the  divine  wisdom  and 
power.  See  Confusion  or 
Tongues. 

DISPOSITION, that  temper  of 
mind  which  any  person  possesses. 

In  every  man,  says  lord  Kames, 
there  is  something  original  that 
serves  to  distinguish  him  from 
others,  that  tends  to  form  a  cha- 
racter, and  to  make  him  meek 
or  fiery,  candid  or  deceitful,  re- 
solute or  timorous,  cheerful  or 
morose.  This  original  bent,  term- 
ed dispositionymust  be  distinguish- 
ed from  a  principle:  the  latter  sig- 
nifying a  law  of  human  nature, 


makes  part  of  the  common  nature 
of  man ;  the  former  makes  part  of 
the  nature  of  this  or  that  man. 

DISPUTATION,  Religious, 
is  the  agitation  of  any  religious 
question,  in  order  to  obtain  clear 
and  adequate  ideas  of  it.  The  pro^ 
priety  of  religious  disputation  or 
controversial  divinity  has  been  a 
matter  of  doubt  with  many.  Some 
artfully  decry  it,  in  order  to  destroy 
free  enquiry.  Some  hate  it,  be- 
cause they  do  not  like  to  be  con- 
tradicted. Others  declaim  against 
it,  to  save  themselves  the  disgrace 
of  exposing  their  ignorance,  or  the 
labour  of  examining  and  defend- 
ing their  own  theses.  There  are 
others  who  avoid  ij,  not  because 
they  are  convinced  of  the  im- 
propriety of  the  thing  itself,  but 
because  of  the  evil  temper  with 
which  it  is  generally  conducted. 

The  propriety  of  it,  however, 
will  appear,  if  we  consider  that 
every  article  of  religion  is  denied 
by  some,  and  cannot  well  be  be- 
lieved, without  exa"mination,  by 
any.  Religion  empowers  us  to 
investigate,  debate,  and  contro- 
vert each  article,  in  order  to  as- 
certain the  evidence  of  its  truth. 
The  divine  writings,many  of  them, 
are  controversial ;  the  book  of 
Tob,  and  Paul's  epistles,  especially. 
The  ministry  of  our  Lord  was  a 
perpetual  controversy,  and  the 
apostles  came  at  truth  by  much 
disputing,  Acts  xv,  7.  Acts  xvii, 
17.  Acts  xix,  8.  To  attend,  how- 
ever, to  religious  controversy  with 
advantage,  the  following  rules 
should  be  observed.  1.  The  ques- 
tion should  be  cleared  from  all 
doubtful  terms  and  needless  ad- 
ditions.— 2.  The  precise  point  of 


DIS 


237 


DI  V 


enquiry  should  be  fixed. — 3.  See 
that  the  object  aimed  at  be  truth, 
and  not  the  mere  love  of  victory. 
— -4.  Beware  of  a  dogmatical  spi- 
rit, and  a  supposition  that  you  are 
always  right. — 5.  Let  a  strict  rein 
be  kept  on  the  passions  when  you 
are  hard  pushed.  Vide  Robinson's 
Claude^  p.  245,  vol.  ii,  Watts  on 
the  Mind^  chap.  10;  Beattie  on 
Truth^  347,  &c. ;  Locke  on  Under- 
standings chap.  10,  vol.  ii. 

DISSENTERS,  those  who  se- 
parate from  the  established  church. 
The  number  of  Dissenters  in  this 
kingdom  is  very  considerable. 
They  are  divided  into  several  par- 
ties ;  the  chief  of  which  are  the 
Presbyterians,  Independents,  Bap- 
tists, Quakers,  and  Methodists. 
See  those  articles,  as  also  Non- 
conformists and  Puritans. 

DISSIDENTS,  adenomination 
applied  in  Poland  to  those  of  the 
Lutheran,  Calvinistic,  and  Greek 
profession.  The  king  of  Poland 
engages  by  the  pacta  conventa  to 
tolerate  them  in  the  free  exercise 
of  their  religion,  but  they  have 
often  had  reason  to  complain  of 
the  violation  of  these  promises. 

DISSIMULATION,  the  act 
of  dissembling.  It  has  been  distin- 
goiished  from  simulation  thus :  Si- 
viidatioii  is  making  a  thing  appear 
which  does  not  exist;  dissimulation 
is  keeping  that  which  exists  from 
appearing.  Moralists  have  observ- 
ed, that  all  dissimulation  is  not  hy- 
pocrisy. A  vicious  man,  who  en- 
deavours to  throw  a  veil  over  his 
bad  conduct,  that  he  may  escape 
the  notice  of  men,  is  not  in  the 
strictest  sense  of  the  word  a  hy- 
pocrite, since  a  man  is  no  more 
obliged  to  proclaim  his  secret  vices 


than  any  other  of  his  secrets.  The 
hypocrite  is  one  who  dissembles 
for  a  bad  end,  and  hides  the  snare, 
that  he  may  be  more  sure  of  his 
prey ;  and,  not  content  with  a 
negative  virtue,  or  not  appearing 
the  ill  man  he  is,  makes  a  show 
of  positive  virtue,  and  appears 
the  man  he  is  not.  See  Hypo- 
crisy. 

DISSOLUTION,  death,  or  the 
separation  of  the  body  and  soul. 
The  dissolution  of  the  xuorld  is  an 
awful  event,  which  we  have  reason 
to  believe,  both  from  the  Old  Testa- 
ment and  the  New,  will  certainly 
take  place.  1.  It  is  not  an  incre- 
dible thing,  since  nothing  of  a 
material  nature  is  formed  for  per- 
petual duration 2.  It  will  doubt- 
less be  under  the  direction  of  the 
Supreme  Being,  as  its  creation  was,. 
— o.  The  soul  of  man  will  remain 
unhurt  amidst  this  general  desola- 
tion.— 4.  It  will  be  an  introduction 
to  a  greater  and  nobler  system  in 
the  government  of  God,  2d  Pet.  iii, 
13. — 5.  The  consideration  of  it 
ought  to  have  a  great  influence  on 
us  while  in  the  present  state,  2d 
Pet.,  iii,  11,  12.  See  Confla- 
gration. 

DIVERSION,  something  that 
unbends  the  mind,  by  turning  it  oif 
from  care.  It  seems  to  be  some- 
thing lighter  than  amusement, 
and  less  forcible  than  pleasure. 
It  is  an  old  simile,  and  a  veiy 
just  one,  that  a  bow  kept  always 
bent  will  grow  feeble,  and  lose 
its  force.  The  alternate  succes- 
sion of  business  and  diversion  pre- 
serve the  body  and  soul  in  the 
happiest  temper.  Diversions  must, 
however,  be  lawful  and  good. 
The  playhouse?  the  gaming-table, 


DIV 


238 


DIV 


the  masquerade,  midnight  assem- 
blies, must  be  considered  as  ini- 
mical to  the  morals  and  true  hap- 
piness of  man.  The  most  rational 
diversions  are  conversation,  read- 
ing, singing,  music,  riding,  &c. 
They  must  be  moderate  as  to  the 
time  spent  in  them,  and  expense 
of  them.  Seasonable,  when  we 
have  (as  Cicero  observes)  dispatch- 
ed our  serious  and  important  af- 
fairs. See  Grove's  Regulation  of 
Diversions  ;  JVatts^s  Lnprovement 
of  the  Mind^  vol.  ii,  sec.  9;  Blair'* s 
Sermons,  vol.  ii,  p.  1 7 ;  Burder''s 
Sermon  on  Amusements ;  Frend^s 
Evening  Ardusements. 

DIVINATION,  is  a  conjec- 
ture or  surmise  formed  concerning 
some  future  event  from  something 
which  -is  supposed  to  be  a  presage 
of  it ;  but  between  which  there  is 
no  real  connexion,  only  what  the 
imagination  of  the  diviner  is  pleas- 
ed to  assign  in  order  to  deceive. 

Divination  of  all  kinds  being  the 
offspring  of  credulity,  nursed  by 
imposture,  and  strengthened  by 
superstition,  was  necessarily  an 
occult  science,  retained  in  the 
hands  of  the  priests  and  priestesses, 
the  magi,  the  soothsayers,  the 
augurs,  the  visionaries,  the  priests 
of  the  oracles,  the  false  prophets, 
and  other  like  professors,  till  the 
coming  of  Jesus  Christ,  when  the 
light  of  the  gospel  dissipatedmuch 
of  this  darkness.  The  vogue  for 
these  pretended  sciences  and  arts 
is  nearly  past,  at  least  in  the  en- 
lightened parts  of  the  world.  There 
are  nine  different  kinds  of  divina- 
tion mentioned  in  scripture.  These 
are,  1.  Those  whom  Moses  calls 
Meonen  of  Anan,  a  cloud,  Deut. 
jtviii,    10.- — 2.  Those   whom  the 


prophet  calls,  in  the  same  place, 
Menacheseh.,  which  the  Vulgate 
and  generality  of  interpreters  ren- 
der Augur. — 3.  Those  who  in  the 
same  place  are  called  Mecascheph^ 
which  the  Septuagint  and  Vulgate 
translate  "  a  man  given  to  ill  prac- 
tices."— 4.  Those  whom  in  the 
same  chapter,  ver.  11,  he  calls 
Hhoher. — 5.  Those  who  consult 
the  spirits,  called  Python. — 6. 
Witches,  or  magicians,  called  Ju- 
deoni. — 7.  Necromancers,  who  con- 
sult the  dead. — 8.  Such  as  consult 
staves,  Hosea  iv.  12  ;  called  by- 
some  Rhahdomancy. — 9.  Hepatos- 
copy,  or  the  consideration  of  the 
liver. 

Different  kinds  of  divination, 
which  have  passed  for  sciences,  we 
have  had :  1.  Aeromancy,  divin- 
ing by  the  air. — 2.  Astrology  by 
the  heavens. — 3.  Augury  by  the 
flight  and  singing  of  birds,  &:c. — 
4.  Chiromancy,  by  inspecting  the 
hand. — 5.  Geomancy,  by  observ- 
ing of  cracks  or  clefts  in  the  earth* 
— 6.  Haruspicy,  by  inspecting  the 
bowels  of  animals. — 7.  Horo- 
scopy,  a  branch  of  astrology^ 
marking  the  position  of  the  heavens 
when  a  mian  is  born. — 8.  Hydro- 
mancy,  by  water.- — 9.  Physiogno- 
my, by  the  countenance.  (This, 
however,  is  considered  by  some  as 
of  a  different  nature,  and  worthy 
of  being  rescued  from  the  rubbish 
of  superstition,  and  placed  among 
the  useful  sciences.  Lavater  has 
written  a  celebrated  treatise  on  it.) 
— 10.  Pyromancy,  a  divination 
made  by  fire.  Thus  we  see  what 
arts  have  been  practised  to  deceive, 
and  how  designing  menhave  made 
use  of  all  the  four  elements  to  im- 
pose upon  weak  minds. 


DI  V 


239 


DOC 


DIVINE,  something  relating 
to  God.  The  word  is  also  used 
-  figuratively  for  any  thing  that  is 
excellent,  extraordinary,  and  that 
seems  to  go  beyond  the  power  of 
nature  and  the  capacity  of  man. 
It  also  signifies  a  minister,  or  cler- 
gyman.    See  Minister. 

DIVINITY,  the  science  of 
theology.     See  Theology. 

DIVORCE,  is  the  dissolution 
of  marriage,  or  separation  of  man 
and  wife.  Divorce  a  mensa  et 
thoro^  i.  e.  from  bed  and  board. 
In  this  case,  the  wife  has  a  suit- 
able maintenance  allowed  her  out 
of  her  husband's  effects.  Divorce 
a  vinculo  matrimonii^  i.  e.  from 
the  bonds  of  matrimony,  is  strictly 
and  properly  divorce.  This  hap- 
pens either  in  consequence  of 
criminality,  as  in  the  case  of  adul- 
tery, or  through  some  essential 
impediment ;  as  consanguinity,  or 
affinity  within  the  degrees  forbid- 
den, pre-contract,  impotency,  &c. 
of  which  impediments  the  canon 
law  allows  no  less  than  14.  In 
these  cases  the  woman  receives 
again  only  what  she  brought. 
Sentences  which  release  the  par- 
ties a  vinculo  matrimonii^  on  ac- 
count of  impuberty,  frigidity,  con- 
sanguinity within  the  prohibited 
degrees,  prior  marriage,  or  want 
of  the  requisite  consent  of  parents 
or  guardians,  are  not  properly 
dissolutions  of  the  man^iage  con- 
tract, but  judicial  declarations 
that  there  never  was  any  marriage; 
such  impediment  subsisting  at  the 
time  as  rendered  the  celebration 
of  the  marriage  rite  a  mere  nul- 
lity. And  the  rite  itself  contains 
an  exception  of  these  impedi- 
menta. 


The  law  of  Moses,  says  Mr» 
Paley,  for  reasons  of  local  expe- 
diency, permitted  the  Jewish  hus- 
band to  put  away  his  wife  ;  but 
whether  for  every  cause,  or  for 
what  cause,  appears  to  have  been 
controverted  amongst  the  inter- 
preters of  those  times.  Christ, 
the  precepts  of  whose  religion  were 
calculated  for  more  general  use 
and  observation,  revokes,  his  per- 
mission as  given  to  the  Jev/s  for 
their  hardness  of  heart,  and  pro- 
mulges  a  law  which  was  thence- 
forward to  confine  divorces  to  the 
single  causeof  adulterjanthe  wife. 
Matt,  xix,  9.  Inferior  causes  may 
justify  the  separation  of  husband 
and  wife,  although  they  will  not 
authorize  such  a  dissolution  of  the 
marriage  contract  as  would  leave 
either  at  liberty  to  marry  again ; 
for  it  is  that  liberty  in  which  the 
danger  and  mischief  of  divorces 
principally  consist.  The  law  of 
this  country,  in  conformity  to  our 
Saviour's  injunction,  confines  the 
dissolution  of  the  marriage  contract 
to  the  single  case  of  adultery  in 
the  wife ;  and  a  divorce  even  in 
that  case  can  only  be  brought 
about  by  an  act  of  parliament, 
founded  upon  a  previous  senti- 
ment in  the  spiritual  court,  and  a 
verdict  against  the  adulterer  at 
common  lav/  ;  which  proceedings, 
taken  together,  compose  as  com- 
plete an  investigation  of  the  com- 
plaint as  a  cause  can  receive.  See 
Paletfs  Mor.  and  Pol.  Philosophy^ 
p.  273 ;  Doddridge's  Lectures^  lect. 

DOCETiE,  the  followers  of  Ju- 
lius Cassianus,  one  of  the  Valenti- 
nian  sect,  towards  the  close  of  the 
second  century.     They  believed 


DOC 


240 


DOM 


said  taught  that  the  actions  and  suf- 
ferings of  Jesus  Christ  were  not  in 
reality,  but  only  in  appearance. 

DOCTRINE, the  principles  or 
positions  of  any  sect  or  master.  As 
the  doctrines  of  the  Bible  are  the 
first  principles,  and  the  foundation 
of  religion,  they  should  be  care- 
fully examined,  and  well  under- 
stood. The  scriptures  present  us 
with  a  copious  fund  of  evangelic 
truth,  which,  though  it  has  not 
the  form  of  a  regular  system,  yet  its 
parts  are  such,  that,  when  united, 
make  the  most  complete  body  of 
doctrine  that  we  can  possibly  have. 
Every  christian,  but  divines  espe- 
cially, ^lould  make  this  their  stu- 
dy, because  all  the  various  doc- 
trines should  be  insisted  on  in  pub- 
lic, and  explained  to  the  people. 
It  is  not,  hoWever,  as  some  sup- 
pose, to  fill  up  every  part  of  a 
minister's  sermon,  but  considered 
as  the  basis  upon  which  the  prac- 
tical part  is  to  be  built.  Some  of 
the  divines  in  the  last  century 
overcharged  their  discourses  with 
doctrine,  especially  Dr.  Owen 
and  Dr.  Goodwin.  It  was  com- 
mon in  that  day  to  make  thirty  or 
forty  remarks  before  the  imme- 
diate considei-ation  of  the  text, 
each  of  which  was  just  introduced, 
and  which,  if  enlarged  on,  would 
have  afforded  matter  enough  for  a 
whole  sermon.  A  wise  preacher 
will  join  doctrine  and  practice  to- 


gether. 


Doctrines,  though  abused  by 
some,  yet,  properly  considered,  will 
influence  the  heart  and  life.  Thus 
the  idea  of  God's  sovereignty  ex- 
cites submission  ;  his  power  and 
justice  promote  fear  ;  his  'iKjliTtess, 
humility  and   purity ;   his    good- 


ness, a  ground  df  hope  ;  his  love 
excites  joy ;  the  obscurity  df  his 
providence  requires  patience  ;  his 
faithfulness,  confidence,  &c. 

DOMINICANS,  a  religious 
order  J  in  some  places  called  Jaco- 
bins^ and  in  others  Predicants^  or 
preaching  friarS.  The  Domini- 
cans take  their  name  from  their 
founder,  Dominic  de  Guzman,  a 
Spaniard,  bom  in  1 1 70,  at  Calaroga, 
in  Old  Castile  :  he  was  first  canon 
and  archdeacon  of  Ossuna;  and  af- 
terwards preached  with  great  zeal 
and  vehemence  against  the  Albi- 
genses  in  Languedoc,  where  h6 
laid  the  first  foundation  df  his  ot- 
der.  It  was  approved  of  in  1215 
by  Innocent  III,  and  confirmed 
in  1216,  by  a  bull  of  Honorius 
III,  under  the  title  of  St.  Angus- 
tin;  to  which  Dominic  added  se- 
veral austere  precepts  and  obser- 
vances, obliging  the  brethren  to 
take  a  vow  of  absdlute  poverty,  and 
to  abandon  entirely  all  their  reve- 
nues and  possessions,  and  also  the 
title  of  preaching  friars,  because 
public  instruction  was  the  main 
end  of  their  institution.  The  first 
convent  was  founded  at  Thou- 
louse,  by  the  bishop  thereof,  and 
Simon  de  Montfort.  Tavo  yeai's 
afterwards  they  had  another  at 
Paris,  near  the  bishop's  house ; 
and  sometime  after,  a  third  in 
the  Rue  St.  Jaques  (St.  James's- 
street),  whence  the  denomination 
of  Jacobins.  Just  before  his  death, 
Dominic  sent  Gilbert  de  Fresney, 
with  twelve  of  the  brethren,  into 
England,  where  they  founded  their 
first  monastery  at  Oxford,  in  the 
year  1221,  and  soon  after  another 
at  London.  In  the  year  1276, 
the  maA^or  and  aldermen  of  the 


DOM 


241 


DOM 


city  of  London  gave  them  two 
whole  streets,  by  the  river  Thames, 
where  they  erected  a  very  commo- 
dious convent ;  whence  that  place 
is  still  called  Blackfriars^  from  the 
name  by  which  the  Dominicans 
were  called  in  England.  St.  Do- 
minic at  first  only  took  the  habit 
of  the  regular  canons  ;  that  is,  a 
black  cassock  and  rochet:  but 
this  he  quitted,  in  1219,  for  that 
which  they  have  ever  since  worn, 
which,  it  is  pretended,  was  shewn 
by  the  Blessed  Virgin  hei-self  to  the 
beatified  Renaud  d'Orleans.  This 
order  has  been  diffused  through- 
out the  whole  known  world.  They 
reckon  .three  popes  of  this  order, 
above  sixty  cardinals,  several  pa- 
triarchs, a  hundred  and  fifty  arch- 
bishops, and  about  eight  hundred 
bishops,  beside  masters  of  the  sa- 
cred palace,  whose  office  has  been 
constantly  discharged  by  a  reli- 
gious of  this  order  ever  since  St. 
Dominic,  who  held  it  under  Ho- 
norious  III,  in  1218. 

Of  all  the  monastic  orders, 
BQne  enjoyed  a  higher  degree  of 
power  and  authority  than  the  Do- 
minican friars,  whose  credit  was 
great, 'and  their  influence  univer- 
sal. But  the  measures  they  used 
in  order  to  maintain  and  extend 
their  authority  were  so  perfidious 
and  cruel,  that  their  influence 
began  to  decline  towards  the  be- 
ginning of  the  sixteenth  century. 
The  tragic  story  of  Jetzer,  con- 
ducted at  Bern,  in  1509,  for  de- 
termining an  uninteresting  dispute 
between  them  and  the  Franciscans, 
relating  to  the  iwmacu/ate  concep- 
tion, will  reflect  indelible  infamy 
on  this  order.  In  order  to  give 
the  reader  a  view  of  the  impious 

Vol.  I.  I  i 


frauds  whichhave  sometimes  been 
carried  on  in  the  church  of  Rome, 
we  shall  here  insert  an  account  of 
this  stratagem. 

The  Franciscans  maintained  that 
the  Virgin  Mary  was  born  with- 
out the  blemish  of  original  sin ; 
the  Dominicans  asserted  the  con- 
trary. 

The  doctrine  of  the  Franciscans, 
in  an  age  of  darkness  and  super- 
stition, could  not  but  be  popular  ; 
and  hence  the  Dominicans  lost 
ground  from  da}^  to  day.  To  sup- 
port the  credit  of  their  order,  they 
resolved,  at  a  chapter  held  at 
Vimpsen,  in  the  year  1504,  to 
have  recourse  to  fictitious  visions 
and  dreams,  in  which  the  people 
at  that  time  had  an  easy  faith  ; 
andthey  determined  to  make  Bern 
the  scene  of  their  operations.  A 
person  named  Jetzer,  who  was  ex- 
tremely simple,  and  much  inclined 
to  austerities,  and  who  had  taken 
their  habit  as  a  lay-brother,  was 
chosen  as  the  instrument  of  the 
delusions  they  were  contriving. 
One  of  the  four  Dominicans,  who 
had  undertaken  the  management 
of  this  plot,  conveyed  himself  se- 
cretly into  Jetzer's  cell,  and  about 
midnight  appeared  to  him  in  a 
horrid  figure,  surroimded  with 
howling  dogs,  and  seeming  to  blow 
fire  from  his  nostrils,  by  the  means 
of  a  box  of  combustibles  which  he 
held  near  his  mouth.  In  this 
frightful  form  he  approached  Jet- 
zer's bed,  told  him  that  he  was 
the  ghost  of  a  Dominican,  who 
had  been  killed  at  Paris,  as  a 
judgment  of  heaven  for  laying 
aside  his  monastic  habit ;  that  he 
Avas  condemned  to  purgatory '  for 
tliis  crime  ;  adding,  at  the  same 


DOM 


242 


DOM 


time,  that  by  his  means  he  might 
be  rescued  from  his  misery,  which 
was  beyond  expression.  This  story, 
accompanied  with  horrible  cries 
and  bowlings,  frighted  poor  Jetzer 
out  of  the  little  wits  he  had,  and 
engaged  him  to  promise  to  do  all 
that  was  in  his  power  to  deliver 
the  Dominican  from  his  torment. 
Upon  this  the  impostor  told  him, 
that  nothing  but  the  most  extra- 
ordinary mortifications,  such  as 
the. discipline  of  thexvhip  perform- 
ed during  eight  days  by  the  whole 
monastery,  and  Jetzer's  lying  pros- 
trate in  the  form  of  one  crucified 
in  the  chapel  during  mass,  could 
contribute  to  his  deliverance.  He 
added,  that  the  performance  of 
these  mortifications  would  draw 
down  upon  Jetzer  the  peculiar 
protection  of  the  Blessed  Virgin ; 
and  concluded  by  saying,,  that  he 
would  appear  to  him  again,  ac- 
companied with  two  other  spirits. 
Morning  was  no  sooner  come,  than 
Jetzer  gave  an  account  'of  this 
apparition  to  the  rest  of  the  con- 
vent, who  all  unanimously  advised 
him  to  undergo  the  discipline  that 
was  enjoined  him,  and  every  one 
consented  to  bear  his  share  of  the 
task  imposed.  The  deluded  sim- 
pleton obeyed,  and  was  admired 
as  a  saint  by  the  multitudes  that 
crowded  about  the  convent  j  while 
the  four  friars  that  managed  the 
imposture  magnified,  in  the  most 
pompous  manner,  the  miracle  of 
this  apparition  in  their  sermons, 
and  in  their  discourses.  The  night 
after,  the  apparition  was  renewed 
with  the  addition  of  two  impos- 
tors, dressed  like  devils,  tmd  Jet- 
zer's faith  was  augmented  by  liear- 
ing  from  the  spectre  all  the  secrets 


of  his  life  and  thoughts,  which  the 
impostors  had  learned  from  his 
confessor.  In  this  and  some  sub- 
sequentscenes  (thedetail  of  whose 
enormities,  for  the  sake  of  brevity, 
we  shall  here  omit)  the  impostor 
talked  much  to  Jetzer  of  the  Do-' 
minican  order,  which  he  said  was 
peculiarly  dear  to  the  Blessed  Vir- 
gin :  he  added,  that  the  Virgin 
knew  herself  to  be  conceived  in 
original  sin  ;  that  the  doctors  who 
taught  the  contrary  were  in  pur- 
gatory ;  and  the  Blessed  Virgin 
abhorred  the  Franciscans  for  mak- 
ing her  equal  with  her  son ;  and 
that  the  town  of  Bern  would  be 
destroyed  for  harbouring  such 
plagues  within  her  walls.  In  one 
of  these  apparitions  Jetzer  ima- 
gined that  the  voice  of  the  spectre 
resembled  that  of  the  prior  of  the 
convent,  and  he  was  not  mistaken; 
but,  not  suspecting  a  fraud,  he 
gave  little  attention  to  this.  The 
prior  appeared  in  various  forms, 
sometimes  in  that  of  St.  Barbara, 
at  others  in  that  of  St.  Bernard : 
at  length  he  assumed  that  of  the 
Virgin  Mar}-,  and  for  that  pur- 
pose, clothed  himself  in  the  ha- 
bits that  were  employed  to  adorn 
the  statue  of  the  Virgin  in  the 
great  festivals.  The  little  images, 
that  on  these  days  are  set  on  the 
altars,  were  made  use  or  for  an- 
gels, which,  being  tied  to  a  cord 
that  passed  through  a  pulley  over 
Jetzer's  head,  rose  up  and  down, 
and  danced  about  the  pretended 
Virgin  to  increase  the  delusion. 
The  Virgin,  thus  equipped,  ad- 
dressed a  long  discourse  to  Jetzer, 
in  which,  among  other  things, 
she  told  him  that  she  was  con- 
ceived in  original  sin,  though  she 


DOM 


243 


DOM 


had  remained  but  a  short  time 
under  that  blemish.  She  gave  him, 
as  a  miraculous  proof  of  her  pre- 
sence, a  host^  or  consecrated  wafer, 
which  turned  from  white  to  red 
in  a  moment;  and  after  various 
visits,  in  which  the  greatest  enor- 
mities were  transacted,  the  Virgin- 
prior  told  Jetzer  that  she  would 
give  him  the  most  affecting  and 
undoubted  marks  of  her  son's 
love,  by  imprinting  on  him  the 
Jive  wounds  that  pierced  Jesus  on 
the  cross,  as  she  had  done  before 
to  St.  Lucia  and  St.  Catharine. 
Accordingly  she  took  his  hand  by 
force,  and  struck  a  large  nail 
through  it,  which  threw  the  poor 
dupe  into  the  greatest  torment. 
The  next  night  this  masculine 
virgin  brought,  as  he  pretended, 
some  of  the  linen  in  which  Christ 
had  been  buried,  to  soften  the 
wound ;  and  gave  Jetzer  a  soporific 
draught,  which  had  in  it  the  blood 
of  an  unbaptized  child,  some  grains 
of  incense  and  of  consecrated  salt, 
some  quicksilver,  the  hairs  of  the 
eye-brows  of  a  child  ;  all  which, 
with  some  stupifying  and  poisonous 
ingredients,  were  mingled  together 
by  the  prior  with  magic  ceremo- 
nies, and  a  solemn  dedication  of 
himself  to  the  devil  in  hope  of  his 
succour.  This  draught  threw  the 
poor  wretch  into  a  sort  of  lethargy, 
during  which  the  monks  imprinted 
on  his  body  the  other  four  wounds 
of  Christ  in  such  a  manner  that 
he  felt  no  pain.  When  he  awak- 
ened, he  found,  to  his  unspeakable 
joy,  these  impressions  on  his  body, 
and  came  at  last  to  fancy  himself 
a  representative  of  Christ  in  the 
various  parts  of  his  passion.  He 
was,  in  this  state,  exposed  to  the 


admiring  multitude  on  the  prin- 
cipal altar  of  the  convent,  to  the 
great  mortification  of  the  Francis- 
cans. The  Dominicans  gave  hinx 
some  other  draughts,  that  threw 
him  into  convulsions ;  which  were 
followed  by  a  voice  conveyed 
through  a  pipe  into  the  mouths 
of  two  images,  one  of  Mary,  and 
another  of  the  child  Jesus,  the 
former  of  which  had  tears  painted 
upon  its  cheeks  in  a  lively  man- 
ner. The  little  Jesus  asked  his 
mother,  by  means  of  this  voice 
(which  was  that  of  the  prior's), 
why  she  wept  ?  and  she  answered, 
that  her  tears  were  owing  to  the 
impious  manner  in  which  the 
Franciscans  attributed  to  her  the 
honour  that  was  due  to  him,  in 
saying  that  she  was  conceived  and 
born  without  siui 

The  apparitions,  false  prodigies, 
and  abominable  stratagems  of  these 
Dominicans  were  repeated  every 
night;  andthe  matter  was  at  length 
so  grossly  over-acted,  that,  simple 
as  Jetzer  was,  he  at  last  discovered 
it,  and  had  almost  killed  the  prior, 
who  appeared  to  him  one  night 
in  the  form  of  the  Virgin  with  a 
crown  on  her  head.     The  Domi- 
nicans fearing,  by  this  discovery, 
to  lose  the  fruits  of  their  impos- 
ture,   thought  the    best    method 
would  be  to  own  the  whole  matter 
to  Jetzer,  and  to  engage  him,  by 
the  most  seducing  promises  of  opu- 
lence and  glory,  to  carry  on  the 
cheat.     Jetzer  was  persuaded,  or 
at  least  appeared  to  be  so.      But 
the  Dominicans  suspecting  that  he 
was  not  entirely  gained  over,  re- 
solved to  poison  him  ;  but  his  con- 
stitution was   so   vigorous,   that, , 
though  they  gave  him  poison  five 


DO-M 


244 


DON 


several  timeshe  was  not  destroyed 
by  it.  One  day  they  sent  him  a 
loaf  prepared  with  some  spices, 
•which,  growing  gi-een  in  a  day  or 
two,  he  threw  a  piece  of  it  to  a 
wolf's  whelps  that  were  in  the  mo- 
hastery,  and  it  killed  them  imme- 
diately. At  another  time  they 
poisoned  the  host,  or  consecrated  j 
Avafer ;  but,  as  he  vomited  it  up 
soon  after  he  had  swallowed  it,  he 
escaped  once  more.  In  short,  there 
were  no  means  of  securing  him, 
which  the  most  detestable  impiet>' 
and  barbarity  could  invent,  that' 
they  did  not  put  in  practice  ;  till 
finding,  at  last,  an  opportunity  of 
getting  out  of  the  convent,  he 
threw  himself  into  the  hands  of 
the  magistrates,  to  whom  he  made 
a  full  discovery  of  this  infernal 
plot.  The  affair  being  brought 
to  Rome,  commissaries  were  sent 
from  thence  to  examine  the  matter ; 
and  the  whole  cheat  being  fully 
proved,  the  four  friars  were  solemn- 
ly degraded  from  their  priesthood, 
and  were  burnt  alive  on  the  last  day 
of  May,  1509.  Jetzer  died  some 
time  after  at  Constance,  having 
poisoned  himself,  as  was  believed 
by  some.  Had  his  life  been  taken 
away  before  he  had  found  an  op- 
portunity of  making  the  discovery 
already  mentioned,  this  execrable 
and  horrid  plot,  which  in  many  of 
its  circumstances  was  conducted 
with  art,  would  have  been  handed 
down  to  posterity  as  a  stupendous 
miracle. 

The  Dominicans  were  perpe- 
tually employed  in  stigmatizing 
with  the  name  of  heresy  num- 
bers of  learned  and  pious  men  ; 
in  encroaching  upon  the  rights 
and  properties  of  others,  to  aug- 


ment their  possessions ;  and  in 
laying  the  most  iniquitous  snares 
and  stratagems  for  the  destruction 
of  their  adversaries.  They  were 
the  principal  counsellors  by  whose 
instigation  and  advice  Leo  X  was 
determined  to  the  public  condem- 
nation of  Luther.  The  papal  see 
never  had  more  active  and  useful 
abettors  than  this  order  and  that 
of  the  Jesuits. 

DOMINION  OF  GOD,  is  his 
absolute  right  to,  and  authority 
over,  all  his  creatures,  to  do  with 
them  as  he  pleases.  It  is  distin- 
guished from  his  power  thus  :  his 
dominion  is  a  right  of  making  what 
he  pleases,  of  possessing  what  he 
makes,  and  of  disposing  what  he 
doth  possess ;  whereas  his  power  is 
an  ability  to  make  what  he  hath  a 
right  to  create,  to  hold  what  he  doth 
possess,  and  to  execute  what  he 
has  purposed  or  resolved. 

DONATISTS,  ancient  schis- 
matics, in  Africa,  so  denominated 
from  their  leader,  Donatus.  They 
had  their  origin  in  the  year  311, 
v.'hen,  in  the  room  of  Mensurius, 
who  died  in  that  year,  on  his  re- 
turn to  Rome,  Csecilian  was  elect- 
ed bishop  of  Carthage,  and  conse- 
crated, without  the  concurrence  of 
the  Numidian  bishops,  by  those  of 
Africa  alone,  whom  the  people 
refused  to  acknowledge,  and  to 
whom  they  opposed  Majorinus, 
who  accordingly  was  ordained  by 
Donatus  bishop  of  Casse  Nigrse. 
They  were  condemned,  in  a  coun- 
cil held  at  Rome,  two  years  after 
their  separation  and  afterwards 
in  another  at  Aries,  the  year  fol- 
lowing ,  and  again  at  P/lilan,  be- 
fore Constantine  the  Great,  in 
316,  who  deprived  them  of  their 


DON 


24t 


DOR 


churches,  and  sent  their  seditious 
bishops  into  banishment,  and  pu- 
nished some  of  them  with  death. 
Their  cause  was  espoused  by  an- 
other Donatus,  called  the  Great, 
the  principal  bishop  of  that  sect, 
who,  with  numbers  of  his  fol- 
lowers, was  exiled  by  order  of 
Constans.  Many  of  them  v/ere 
punished  with  great  severity. — 
See  CiRcuMCELLioNES.  How- 
ever, after  the  accession  of  Julian 
to  the  throne  in  362,  they  were 
permitted  to  return,  and  restored 
to  their  former  liberty.  Gratian 
published  several  edicts  against 
them,  and  in  377  deprived  them 
of  their  churches,  and  prohibited 
all  their  assemblies.  But,  notwith- 
standing the  severities  they  suffer- 
ed, it  appears  that  they  had  a  very 
considerable  number  of  churches 
towards  the  close  of  this  century  ; 
but  at  this  time  they  began  to  de- 
cline, on  account  of  a  schism 
among  themselves,  occasioned  by 
the  election  of  two  bishops,  in  the 
room"  of  Parmenian,  the  succes- 
sor of  Donatus  :  one  party  elected 
Primian,  and  were  called  Primi- 
anists ;  and  another  Maximian, 
and  were  called  Maximianists. 
Their  decline  was  also  precipi- 
tated by  the  zealous  opposition  of 
St.  Augustine,  and  by  the  violent 
measures  which  were  pursued 
against  them  by  order  of  the  em- 
peror Honorius,  at  the  solicitation 
of  two  councils  held  at  Carthage, 
the  one  in  404,  and  the  other  in 
411.  Many  of  them  were  fined, 
their  bishops  were  banished,  and 
some  put  to  death.  This  sect  re- 
vived and  multiplied  under  the 
protection  of  the  Vamlals,  who 
invaded  Africa  in  427,  and  took 


possession  of  this  province  :  but 
it  sunk  again  under  new  severities, 
when  their  empire  was  overturned, 
in  534.  Nevertheless,  they  re- 
mained in  a  separate  body  till 
the  close  of  this  centur}^,  when 
Gregory,  the  Roman  pontiff^  used 
various  methods  for  suppressing 
them :  his  zeal  succeeded,  and 
there  are  few  traces  to  be  found 
of  the  Donatists  after  this  period. 
They  were  distinguished  by  other 
appellations,  as  CircumcellioneSj 
Montenses  or  Mountaineers^  Cam- 
petes,  Rupites,  &c.  They  held 
three  councils,  that  of  Cita  in 
Numidia,  and  two  at  Carthage. 

The  Donatists,  it  is  said,  held 
that  baptism  conferred  out  of  the 
church,  that  is,  out  of  their  sect, 
was  null ;  and  accordingly  they  re- 
baptized  those  who  joined  their 
party  from  other  churches  :  they 
also  re-ordained  their  ministers. 
Donatus  seems  likewise  to  have 
embraced  the  doctrine  of  the 
Arians ;  though  St.  Augustine 
affirms  that  the  Donatists  in  this 
point  kept  clear  of  the  errors  of 
their  leader. 

,  DORT,  Synod  of;  a  national 
synod,  summoned  by  authority  of 
the  states-general,  the  provinces  of 
Holland,  Utrecht,  and  Overyssel 
excepted,  and  held  at  Dort, 
1618.  The  most  eminent  divines 
of  the  United  Provinces,  and  de- 
puties from  the  churches  of  Eng- 
land, Scotland,  Switzerland,  Bre- 
men, Hessia,.  and  the  Palatinate, 
assembled  on  this  occasion,  in  or- 
der to  decide  the  controversy  be- 
tween the  Calvinists  and  Armini- 
ans.  The  synod  had  hardly  com- 
menced its  deliberations  before  a 
dispute  on  the  mode  of  proceeding 


DOS 


246 


DOX 


dvj^ve  the  Arminian  party  from  the 
assembly.  The  Armhiians  insisted 
upon  beginning  with  a  refutation 
of  the  Calvinistic  doctrines,  espe- 
cially that  of  reprobation ;  whilst 
the  synod  determined,  that,  as  the 
remonstrants  were  accused  of  de- 
parting from  the  reformed  faith, 
they  ought  first  to  justify  them- 
selves by  scriptural  proof  of  their 
own  opinions.  All  means  to  per- 
suade the  Arminians  to  submit  to 
.this  procedure  having  failed,  they 
were  banished  the  synod  for  their 
refusal.  The  synod,  however,  pro- 
ceeded in  their  examination  of 
the  Arminian  tenets,  condemned 
their  opinions,  and  excommunicat- 
ed their  persons  :  whether  justly 
or  unjustly,  let  the  reader  deter- 
mine. Surely  no  one  can  be 
an  advocate  for  the  persecution 
which  followed,  and  which  drove 
these  men  from  their  churches 
and  country  into  exile  and  po- 
verty. The  authority  of  this  synod 
was  far  from  being  universally 
acknowledged,  either  in  Holland 
or  in  England.  The  provinces 
of  Friesland,  Zealand,  Utrecht, 
Guelderland,  and  Groningen, 
could  not  be  persuaded  to  adopt 
their  decisions ;  and  they  were  op- 
posed by  king  James  I,  and  arch- 
bishop Laud,  in  England. 

DOSITHEANS,  an  ancient 
sect  among  the  Samaritans,  in  the 
first  century  of  the  christian  asra  ; 
so  called  from  Dositheus,  who  en- 
deavoured to  persuade  the  Sa- 
maritans that  he  was  the  Messiah 
foretold  by  Moses.  He  had  many 
followers,  and  his  sect  was  still 
subsisting  at  Alexandria  in  the 
time  of  the  patriarch  Eulogius,  as 
appears  from  a  decree  of  that  pa- 


triarch published  by  Photius.  In 
that  decree,  Eulogius  accuses  Do- 
sitheus of  injuriously  treating  the 
ancient  patriarchs  and  prophets, 
and  attributing  to  himself  the  spi- 
rit of  prophecy.  He  makes  him 
contemporary  with  Simon  Ma- 
gus ;  and  accuses  him  of  corrupt- 
ing the  Pentateuch,  and  of  com- 
posing several  books  directly  con- 
trary to  the  law  of  God. 

DOUBTS  and  Fears,  are  terms 
frequently  used  to  denote  the  un- 
certainty of  mind  we  are  in  respect- 
ing our  interest  in  the  Divine  fa- 
vour. While  some  are  continually 
harassed  with  doubts  and  fears, 
there  are  others  who  tell  us  they 
know  not  Avhat  it  is  to  doubt ;  yea, 
who  think  it  a  sin  to  doubt:  so  prone 
are  men  to  run  to  extremes,  as  if 
there  were  no  medium  between 
constant  full  assurance  and  perpe- 
tual doubt.  The  true  christian, 
perhaps,  steers  between  the  two. 
He  is  not  always  doubting,  nor  is 
he  always  living  in  the  full  exercise 
of  faith.  It  is  not  unlawful  at  cer- 
tain seasons  to  doubt.  "  It  is  a 
sin,"  says  one,  *'  for  a  believer  to 
live  so  as  not  to  have  his  evidences 
clear ;  but  it  is  no  sin  for  him  to 
be  so  honest  and  impartial  as  to 
doubt,  when  in  fact  his  evidences 
are  not  clear."  Let  the  humble 
christian,  however,  beware  of  an 
extreme.  Prayer,  conversation 
with  experienced  christians,  read- 
ing the  promises,  and  considera- 
tion of  the  Divine  goodness,  will 
have  a  tendency  to  remove  unne- 
cessary doubts. 

DOXOLOGY,  a  hymn  used  in 
praise  of  the  Almighty  ,distinguish- 
ed  by  the  titles  of  the  Greater  and 
the    Less.     Both  the  Doxologies 


DRU 


247 


DRU 


are  used  in  the  church  of  Eng- 
land ;  the  former  being  repeated 
after  every  psalm,  and  the  latter 
used  in  the  communion  service. 
Doxology  the  Greater^  or  the  ange- 
lic hymn,  was  of  great  note  in  the 
ancient  church.  It  began  with  the 
words  the  angels  sung  at  the  birth 
of  Christ,  "  Glory  to  God,"  &c. 
Doxology  the  Less  was  anciently 
only  a  single  sentence,  without  a 
response,  running  in  these  words  : 
**  Glory  be  to  the  Father,  and  to 
the  Son,  and  to  the  Holy  Ghost, 
world  without  end,  amen."  Part 
of  the  latter  clause,  "  as  it  was 
in  the  beginning,  is  now  and  ever 
shall  be,"  &c.  was  inserted  some 
time  after  the  first  composition. 

DRAGOONING,  one  of  the 
methods  used  by  papists  after  the 
revocation  of  the  edict  of  Nantz, 
under  Lewis  XIV,  for  converting 
refractory  heretics,  and  bringing 
them  within  the  pale  of  their 
church.  If  the  reader's  feelings 
will  suffer  him  to  peruse  the  ac- 
count of  these  barbarities,  he  will 
find  it  under  the  article  Persecu- 
tion in  this  work. 

DREAD,  is  a  degree  of  perma- 
nent fear,  an  habitual  and  pain- 
ful apprehension  of  some  tremen- 
dous event.  It  keeps  the  mind  in 
a  perpetual  alarm,  in  an  eager 
watchfulness  of  every  circum- 
stance that  bears  any  relation  to 
the  evil  apprehended. 

DRUIDS,  the  priests  or  min- 
isters of  religion  among  the  an- 
cient Gauls,  Britons,  and  Ger- 
mans. They  were  chosen  out  of 
the  best  families  ;  and  the  honours 
of  their  birth,  joined  with  those  of 
theii-  function,  procured  them  the 
highest  veneration  among  the  peo- 
ple. They  were  versed  in  astrology, 


geometry,  natural  philosophy,  po- 
litics, and  geography  ;  they  were 
the  interpreters  of  religion,  and 
the  judges  of  all  affairs  indifferent- 
ly. Whoever  refused  obedience 
to  them  was  declared  impious  and 
accursed.  We  know  but  little  as 
to  their  peculiar  doctrines,  only 
that  they  believed  the  immorta- 
lity of  the  soul,  and,  as  is  gene- 
rally also  supposed,  the  transmi- 
gration of  it  to  other  bodies  j 
though  a  late  author  makes  it  ap- 
pear highly  probable  they  did  not 
believe  this  last,  at  least  not  in  the 
sense  of  the  Pythagoreans.  The 
chief  settlement  of  the  druids  in 
Britain  was  in  the  isle  of  Angle- 
sey, the  ancient  Mona^  which  they 
might  choose  for  this  purpose, 
as  it  is  well  stored  v/ith  spacious 
groves  of  their  favourite  oak.  They 
were  divided  into  several  classes 
or  branches,  such  as  the  priests^ 
the  poets.,  the  augurs.,  the  civir 
judges^  and  instructors  of  youth, 
Strabo,  however,  does  not  com- 
prehend all  these  different  orders 
under  the  denomination  of  druids ; 
he  only  distinguishes  three  kinds  : 
bardt^  poets ;  the  vates^  priests  and 
naturalists  ;  and  the  druids^  who, 
besides  the  study  of  Nature,  appli- 
ed themselves  likewise  to  morali- 
ty. Their  garments  were  remark- 
ably long  ;  and,  when  employed  in 
religious  ceremonies,  they  always 
wore  a  white  surplice.  They  ge- 
nerally carried  a  wand  in  their 
hands,  and  wore  a  kind  of  orna- 
ment, enchased  in  gold,  about 
their  necks,  called  the  druid's  egg. 
They  had  one  chief,  or  arch-druid, 
in  every  nation,  v/ho  acted  as  high 
priest,  OY  pontifcx  7naximus.  He 
had  absolute  authority  over  the 
rest,    and  commanded,    decreed, 


DRU 


248 


DRU 


and  punished  at  pleasure.  They 
worshipped  the  supreme  Being 
under  the  name  of  Esus^  or  Hesiis^ 
and  the  symbol  of  the  oak  ;  and 
had  no  other  temple  than  a  wood 
or  a  grove,  where  all  their  reli- 
gious rites  were  performed.  Nor 
was  any  person  permitted  to  en- 
ter that  sacred  recess  unless  he 
carried  with  him  a  chain  in 
token  of  his  absolute  depend- 
ence on  the  Deity.  Indeed,  their 
whole  religion  originally  consist- 
ed in  acknowledgiiig  that  the 
Supreme  Being,  v/ho  made  his 
abode  in  these  sacred  groves, 
governed  the  universe  ;  and  that 
every  creature  ought  to  obey  his 
laws,  and  pay  him  divine  hoinage. 
They  considered  the  oak  as  the 
emblem,  or  rather  the  peculiar 
residence,  of  the  AlmJghty  ;  and 
accordingly  chaplets  of  it  were 
worn,  both  by  the  druids  and 
people,  in  their  religious  cere- 
monies :  the  altars  were  strewed 
with  its  leaves,  and  encircled 
with  its  branches.  The  fruit  of 
it,  especially  the  misletoe,  was 
thought  to  contain  a  divine  virtue, 
and  to  be  the  peculiar  gift  of  hea- 
ven. It  was,  therefore,  sought 
for  on  the  sixth  day  of  the  moon 
with  the  greatest  earnestness  and 
anxiety ;  and  when  found,  Avas 
hailed  with  such  raptures  of  joy, 
as  almost  exceeds  imagination  to 
conceive.  As  soon  as  the  druids 
were  informed  of  the  fortunate  dis- 
covery, they  prepared  every  thing 
ready  forthesarifice  under  the  oak, 
to  which  they  fastened  two  white 
bulls  by  the  horns  ;  then  the  arch- 
<iruid,  attended  by  a  pi-odigious 
number  of  people,  ascended  the 
tree,  dressed  in  white ;  and,  with  a 


consecrated  golden  knife,  or  prun- 
ing hook,  cropped  the  misletoe^ 
which  he  received  in  his  robe, 
amidst  the  rapturous  exclamations 
of  the  people.  Having  secured 
this  sacred  plant,  he  descended  the 
tree  ;  the  buUs  were  sacrificed ; 
and  the  Deity  invoked  to  bless  his 
own  gift,  and  render  it  efficacious 
in  those  distempers  in  which  it 
should  be  administered. 

DRUNKENNESS,  intoxica- 
tion with  strong  liquor.  It  is  ei- 
ther actual  or  habitual ;  just  as  it 
is  one  thing  to  be  drunk,  and  an- 
other to  be  a  drunkard.  The  evil 
of  drunkenness  appears  in  the  fol- 
lowing bad  effects  :  1.  It  betrays 
most  constitutions  either  to  extra- 
vagance of  anger,  or  sins  of  lewd- 
ness.— 2.  It  disqualifies  men  for 
the  duties  of  their  station,  both 
by  the  temporary  disorder  of  their 
faculties,  and  at  length  by  a  con- 
stant incapacity  and  stupefaction. 
— 3.  It  is  attended  with  expence, 
which  can  often  be  ill  spared. — 

4.  It  is  sure  to  occasion  uneasiness 
to  the  family  of  the  drunkard. — 

5.  It  shortens  life. — 6.  It  is  a 
most  pernicious  awful  example  to 
others. — 7.  It  is  haidly  ever  cur-, 
ed. — 8.  It  is  a  violation  of  God's 
word,  Prov.  xx,  1.  Eph.  v,  18. 
Isa.  v,  11.  Rom.  xiii,  13.  "  The 
appetite  for  intoxicating  liquors 
appears  to  rrfe,"  saj's  Paley,  "  to 
be  almost  always  acquired.  One 
proof  of  which  is,  that  it  is  apt  to 
return   only    at    particular  times 

j  and  places  ;  as  after  dinner,  in 
the  evening,  on  the  market-day, 
in  such  a  company,  at  such  a  ta- 
vern." How  careful,  then,  should 
v/e  be,  lest  wc  form  habits  of  this 
kind,    or  choose    company    who 


DUN 


249 


DUN 


are  addicted  to  it ;  how  cautious 
and  circumspect  should  we  act, 
that  we  be  not  found  guilty  of  a 
sin  which  degrades  human  nature, 
banishes  reason,  insults  God,  and 
exposes  us  to  the  greatest  evils ! 
Paleifs  Mor.  Ph'il^  vol.  ii,  ch.  2; 
FlavePs  Works^  vol.  ii,  p.  349  ; 
BucWs  Anecdotes^  vol.  i,  p.  82, 
3d  edition. 

DUIXINISTS,  the  followers 
of  Dulcinus,  a  layman  of  Novara 
in  Lombardy,  about  the  beginning 
of  the  fourteenth  century.  He 
taught  that  the  law  of  the  Father, 
which  had  continued  till  Moses, 
was  a  law  of  grace  and  wisdom  ; 
but  that  the  law  of  the  Holy 
Ghost,  which  began  with  himself 
in  1307,  was  a  law  entirely  of  love, 
which  would  last  to  the  end  of  the 
world. 

DUNKERS,  a  denomination 
which  took  its  rise  in  the  year  1724. 
It  was  founded  by  a  German,  who, 
weary  of  the  world,  retired  to  an 
agreeable  solitude  within  fifty  miles 
of  Philadelphia,  for  the  more  free 
exercise  of  religious  contempla- 
tion. Curiosity  attracted  follow- 
ers, and  his  simple  and  engaging 
manners  made  them  proselytes. 
They  soon  settled  a  little  colony, 
called  Euphrate,  in  allusion  to  the 
Hebrews,  who  used  to  sing  psalms 
on  the  borders  of  the  river  Eu- 
phrates. This  denomination  seem 
to  have  obtained  their  name  from 
their  baptizing  their  new  converts 
by  plunging.  They  are  also  call- 
ed Tumblers,  from  the  manner  in 
which  they  performed  baptism, 
which  is  by  putting  the  person, 
while  kneeling,  head  first  under  wa- 
ter, so  as  to  resemble  the  motion 
of  the  body  in  the  action  of  tum- 

VoL.  I.  K  k 


bling.  They  use  the  triune  im- 
mersion, with  laying  on  the  hands 
and  prayer,  even  when  the  person 
baptized  is  in  the  water. 

Their  habit  seems  to  be  peculiar 
to  themselves,  consisting  of  a  long 
tunic,  or  coat,  reaching  down  to 
their  heels,  with  a  sash  or  girdle 
round  the  waist,  and  a  cap,  or 
hood,  hanging  from  the  shoulders, 
like  the  dress  of  the  Dominican 
friars.  The  men  do  not  shave  the 
head  or  beard.  The  men  and  wo- 
men have  separate  habitations  and 
distinct  governments.  For  these 
purposes  they  have  erected  two 
large  wooden  buildings,  one  of 
which  is  occupied  by  the  brethren, 
the  other  by  the  sisters  of  the  socie- 
ty ;  and  in  each  of  them  there  is  a 
banquetting  room,  and  an  apart- 
ment for  public  worship';  for  the 
brethren  and  sisters  do  not  meet  to- 
gether, even  at  their  devotions. 
They  live  chiefly  upon  roots  and 
other  vegetables,  the  rules  of  their 
society  not  allowing  them  flesh,  ex- 
cept on  particular  occasions,  when 
they  hold  what  they  call  a  love- 
feast  :  at  which  time  the  brethren 
and  sisters  dine  together  in  a  large 
apartment,  and  eat  mutton ;  but 
no  other  meat.  In  each  of  their 
little  cells  they  have  a  bench  fixed, 
to  serve  the  purpose  of  a  bed,  and 
a  small  block  of  wood  for  a  pillow. 
The  Bunkers  allow  of  no  inter- 
course between  the  brethren  and 
sisters,  not  even  by  marriage.  The 
principal  tenets  of  the  Dunkers 
appear  to  be  these :  that  future 
happiness  is  only  to  be  attained 
by  penance  and  outward  morti- 
fication in  this  life;  and  that,  as 
Jesus  Christ  by  his  meritorious 
suft'erings,  became  the  Redeemer 


E  AS 


250 


E  AS 


of  mankind  in  general,  so  each  in- 
dividual of  the  human  race,  by 
a  life  of  abstinence  and  restraint, 
may  work  out  his  own  salvation. 
Nay,  they  go  so  far  as  to  admit 
of  works  of  supererogation,  and 
declare  that  a  man  may  do  much 
more  than  he  is  injustice  or  equity 
obliged  to  do,  and  that  his  super- 
abundant works  may  therefore  be 
applied  to  the  salvation  of  others. 
This  denomination  deny  the  eter- 
nity of  futui'e  punishments,  and 
believe  that  the  dead  have  the 
gospel  preached  to  them  by  our 
Saviour,  and  that  the  souls  of  the 
just  are  employed  to  preach  the 
gospel  to  those  who  have  had  no 
revelation  in  this  life.  They  sup- 
pose the  Jewish  sabbath,  sabbatical 
year,  and  year  of  jubilee,  are  ty- 
pical of  certain  periods,  after  the 
general  judgment,  in  which  the 
souls  of  those  who  are  not  then 
admitted  into  happiness  are  puri- 
fied from  their  corruption.  If  any 
within  those  smaller  periods  are 
so  far  humbled  as  to  acknowledge 
the  perfections  of  God,  and  to  own 
Christ  as  thei^  only  Saviour,  they 
"are    received   to   felicity ;    while 


those  who  continue  obstinate  are 
reserved  in  torments  until  the 
grand  period  typified  by  the  ju- 
bilee arrives,  in  which  all  shall  be 
made  happy  in  the  endless  fruition 
of  the  Deity.  They  also  deny  the 
imputation  of  Adam's  sm  to  his 
posterity.  They  disclaim  violence 
even  in  cases  of  self-defence,  and 
suffer  themselves  to  be  defrauded 
or  wronged  rather  than  go  to  law. 

Their  church  government  and 
discipline  are  the  same  with  the 
English  Baptists,  except  that  every 
brother  is  allowed  to  speak  in  the 
congregation  ;  and  their  best  speak- 
er is  usually  ordained  to  be  the 
minister.  The)^  have  deacons  and 
deaconesses  from  among  their  an- 
cient widows  and  exhorters,  who 
are  all  licensed  to  use  their  gifts 
statedly. 

DUTY,  any  action,  or  course 
of  actions,  which  flow  from  the  re- 
lations we  stand  in  to  God  or 
man  ;  that  which  a  man  is  bound 
to  perform  by  any  natural  or  le- 
gal obligation.  The  various  mo- 
ral, relative,  and  spiritual  duties^ 
are  considered  in  their  places  in 
this  work. 


E. 


EASTER,  the  day  on  which 
the  christian  church  commemo- 
rates our  Saviour's  resurrection.  It 
is  called  by  the  Greeks  Pasga ;  and 
by  the  Latins  Pascha^  a  Hebrew 
Vv-ord  signifying  passage,  applied 
to  the  Jewish  feast  at  the  passover. 
It  is  called  Easter  in  English,  from 
the  Saxon  goddess  Eostre,  whose 
festival  was  held  in  April.  The 
Asiatic  churches  kept  their  Easter 


upon  the  very  same  day  that  the 
Jews  observed  their  passover  ^  and 
others  on  the  first  Sunday  after 
the  first  full  moon  in  the  new 
year.  This  controversy  was  deter- 
mined in  the  council  of  Nice, 
when  it  was  ordained  that  Easter 
should  be  kept  upon  one  and  the 
same  day,  which  should  ahvays  be 
Sunday,  in  all  christian  churches 
in  the  world. 


EBI 


251 


ECC 


EBIONITES,ancientheretlcs,  [ 
who  rose  in  the  church  in  the  very 
first  age  thereof,  and  formed  them- 
selves into  a  sect  in  the  second 
century,  denying  the  divinity  of 
Jesus  Christ.  Origen  takes  them 
to  have  been  so  called  from  the 
Hebrew  word  ebion^  which  in  that 
language  signifies  poor ;  because, 
says  he,  they  were  poor  in  sense, 
and  wanting  understanding.  Eu- 
sebius,  with  a  view  to  the  same 
etymology,  is  of  opinion  they 
were  thus  called,  as  having  poor 
thoughts  of  Jesus  Christ,  taking 
him  for  no  more  than  a  mere  man. 
It  is  more  probable  the  Jews  gave 
this  appellation  to  the  christians 
in  general  out  of  contempt;  be- 
cause, in  the  first  times,  there  were 
few  but  poor  people  that  embraced 
the  christian  religion.  The  Ebi- 
onites  were  little  else  than  a  branch 
of  the  Nazarenes  ;  only  that  they 
altered  and  corrupted,  in  many 
things,  the  purity  of  the  faith 
held  among  the  first  adherents  to 
Christianity.  For  this  reason,  Ori- 
gen distinguishestvvokindsof  Ebi- 
onites  in  his  answer  to  Cclsus  ;  the 
one  believed  that  Jesus  Christ  was 
born  of  a  virgin  ;  and  the  other, 
that  he  was  born  after  the  man- 
ner of  other  men.  The  first  were 
orthodox  in  every  thing,  except 
that  to  the  christian  doctrine  they 
joined  the  ceremonies  of  the 
Jewish  law,  with  the  Jews,  Sama- 
ritans, and  Nazarenes  ;  together 
with  the  traditions  of  the  Phari- 
sees. They  differed  from  the  Na- 
zarenes,however,in  several  things, 
chiefly  as  to  what  regards  the  au- 
thority of  the  sacred  writings ;  for 
the  Nazarenes  received  all  for 
scripture  contained  in  the  Jewish 


canon ;  whereas  the  Ebionites 
rejected  all  the  prophets,  and 
held  the  very  names  of  David, 
Solomon,  Isaiah,  Jeremiah,  and 
Ezekiel,  in  abhorrence.  They  also 
rejected  all  St.  Paul's  epistles, 
whom  they  treated  with  the  ut- 
most disrespect.  They  received 
nothing  of  the  Old  Testament  but 
the  Pentateuch.  They  agreed  with 
the  Nazarenes  in  using  the  He- 
brew gospel  of  St.  Matthew,  other- 
wise called  the  gospel  of  the  twelve 
apostles  ;  but  they  corrupted  their 
copy  in  abundance  of  places ;  and 
particularly  had  left  out  the  ge- 
nealogy of  our  Saviour,  which 
was  preserved  entire  in  that  of  the 
Nazarenes,  and  even  in  those  used 
by  the  Cerinthians.  Besides  the 
Hebrew  gospel  of  St.  Matthew, 
the  Ebionites  had  adopted  several 
other  books  under  the  names  of 
St.  James,  John,  and  the  other 
apostles :  they  also  made  use  of 
the  travels  of  St.  Peter,  which  are 
supposed  to  have  been  written  by 
St.  Clement ;  but  had  altered  them 
so,  that  there  was  scarce  any  thing 
of  truth  left  in  them.  They  &vcn 
made  that  saint  tell  a  number  of 
falsehoods,  the  better  to  authorize 
their  own  practices. 

ECCLESIASTICAL,  an  ap- 
pellation given  to  whatever  belongs 
to  the  church  ;  thus  we  say  eccle- 
siastical polity,  jurisdiction,  his- 
tory, &c. 

ECCLESIASTICAL  HIS- 
TORY,  a  narration  of  the  trans- 
actions, revolutions,  and  events, 
that  relate  to  the  church.  As  to 
the  utility  of  church  history.  Dr. 
Jortin,  who  was  an  acute  writer  on 
this  subject,  shall  here  speak  for  us: 
he  observes,  1.  That  it  will  shew 


ECC 


252 


ECL 


us  the  amazing  progress  of  Chris- 
tianity through  the  Roman  empire, 
through  the  East  and  West,  al- 
though the  powers  of  the  world 
cruelly  opposed  it. — 2.  Connected 
with  Jewish  and  Pagan  history,  it 
■will  shew  us  the  total  destruction 
of  Jerusalem,  the  overthrow  of 
the  Jewish  church  and  state  ; 
and  the  continuance  of  that  un- 
happy nation  for  1700  years, 
though  dispersed  over  the  face  of 
the  earth,  and  oppressed  at  dif- 
ferent times  by  Pagans,  Christians, 
and  Mahometans. — 3.  It  shews  us 
that  the  increase  of  Christianity 
produced  in  the  countries  where 
it  was  received,  the  overthrow 
and  extinction  of  paganism,  which, 
after  a  feeble  resistance,  perished 
about  the  sixth  century. — 4.  It 
shews  us  how  Christianity  hath 
been  continued  and  delivered  down 
from  the  apostolical  to  the  present 
age. — 5.  It  shews  us  the  various 
opinions  which  prevailed  at  dif- 
ferent times  amongst  the  fathers 
and  other  christians,  and  how  they 
departed  more  or  less  from  the 
simplicity  of  the  gospel. — 6.  It 
will  enable  us  to  form  a  true  judg- 
ment of  the  merit  of  the  fathers, 
and  of  the  use  which  is  to  be  made 
of  them. — 7.  It  will  shew  us  the 
evrl  of  imposing  unreasonable 
terms  of  communion,  and  requir- 
ing christians  to  profess  doctrines 
notpropounded  in  scriptural  words, 
but  inferred  as  consequences  from 
passages  of  scripture,  which  one 
may  call  systems  of  consequential 

divinitij 8.  It  will  shew  us  the 

origin  and  progress  of  popery ; 
and,lastly,  it  will  shew  us,-^9.  The 
origin  and  progress  of  the  refor- 
mation.   See  Dr.  Jorthi's  Charge 


on  the  Use  and  Importance  of  Ec-^ 
clesiastical  History^  in  his  Works^ 
vol.  vii,  ch.  2. 

For  ecclesiastical  historians,  see 
Eusebius''s  Eccl.  Hist,  with  Vale- 
sius'^s  Jiotes;  Baronii  Annales  Eccl.; 
Spondani  Annales  Sacri  ;  Parei 
Universalis  Hist.  Ecc;  Lampe, 
Dupin,  Spanheim,  and  Mosheim^s 
Eccl.  Hist.;  Jortin^s  Remarks  on 
EccL  Hist.;  Millar'' s  Propagation 
of  Christianity ;  Gillies' s  Historical 
Collections ;  Dr.  Erskine^s  Sketches.^ 
and  Rohinsor^s  Researches.  The 
most  recent  are.  Dr.  CampbeWs^ 
Gregorifs^  Milner^s^  and  Dr* 
Haxveis's ;  all  which  have  their 
excellencies.  For  the  history  of 
the  church  under  the  Old  Testa- 
ment, the  reader  may  consult  Mil- 
ler''s  History  of  the  Church  ;  Pri- 
deaux  and  Shuckford''s  Connexions  ; 
Dr.  Watts'' s  Scripture  History;  and 
Fleurfs  History  of  the  Israelites. 

ECLECTICS,  a  name  given  to 
some  ancient  philosophers,  who, 
without  attaching  themselves  to 
any  particular  sect,  took  v^hat  they 
judged  good  and  solid  from  each. 
One  Potamon,  of  Alexandria,  who 
lived  under  Augustus  and  Tiberi- 
us, and  who,  v/eary  of  doubting 
of  all  things,  with  the  Sceptics  and 
Pyrrhonians,  was  the  person  who 
formed  this  sect. 

ECLECTICS,  or  modem  Pla- 
tonics, a  sect  which  arose  in  the 
christian  church  towards  the  close 
of  the  second  century.  They  pro- 
fessed to  make  truth  the  only  ob- 
ject of  their  enquiry,  and  to  be 
ready  to  adopt  from  all  the  dif- 
ferent systems  and  sects  such  te- 
nets as  they  thought  agreeable  to 
it.  The}'  preferred  Plato  to  the 
other    philosophers,    and    looked 


EDI 


253 


ELD 


upon  his  opinions  concerning  God, 
the  human  soul,  and  things  invi- 
sible, as  conformable  to  the  spirit 
and  genius  of  the  christian  doc- 
trine. One  of  the  principal  pa- 
trons of  this  system  was  Ammo- 
nius  Saccas,  who  at  this  time 
laid  the  foundation  of  that  sect, 
afterwards  distinguished  by  the 
name  of  the  liezv  Platonics  in  the 
Alexandrian  school. 

ECSTACY,  or  Extasy,  a 
transport  of  the  mind,  which  sus- 
pends the  functions  of  the  senses 
by  the  intense  contemplation  of 
some  extraordinary  object. 

ECTHESIS,  a  confession  of 
faith,  in  the  form  of  an  edict,  pub- 
lished in  the  year  639  by  the  em- 
peror Heraclius,  with  a  view  to  pa- 
cify the  troubles  occasioned  by  the 
EutjT^chian  heresy  in  the  eastern 
church.  However,  the  same  prince 
revoked  it,  on  being  informed  that 
pope  Severinus  had  condemned  it, 
as  favouring  the  M onoth elite s ; 
declaring,  at  the  same  time,  that 
Sergius,  patriarch  of  Constantino- 
ple, was  the   author  of  it.     See 

EUTYCHIANS. 

EDIFICATION:  this  word 
signifies  a  building  up.  Hence  we 
call  a  building  an  edifice.  Applied 
to  spiritual  things,  it  signifies  the 
improving,  adorning,  and  comfort- 
ing the  mind ;  and  a  christian  may 
be  said  to  be  edified  when  he  is 
encouraged  and  animated  in  the 
ways  and  works  of  the  Lord.  The 
means  to  promote  our  own  edifica- 
tion are,  prayer,  self-examination, 
reading  the  scriptures,  hearing  the 
gospel,  meditation,  attendance  on 
all  appointed  ordinances.  To 
v^ify  others,  there  should  be  love, 
■spiritual    conversation,     forbear- 


ance, faithfulness,  benevolent  exer-» 
tions,  and  uniformity  of  conduct. 

EFFRONTES,  a  sect  of  he- 
retics, in  1534,  who  scraped  their 
forehead  with  a  knife  till  it  bled, 
and  then  poured  oil  into  the  wound. 
This  ceremony  served  them  instead 
of  baptism.  They  are  likewise 
said  to  have  denied  the  divinity  of 
the  Holy  Spirit. 

EICETtE,  a  denomination  in 
the  )7ear  680,  who  affirmed  that,  in 
order  to  make  prayer  acceptable 
to  God,  it  should  be  performed 
dancing. 

EJACULATION,  a  short 
prayer,  in  which  the  mind  is  di- 
rected to  God  on  any  emergency. 
See  PrayePv. 

ELCESAITES,  ancient  here- 
tics, who  made  their  appearance  in 
the  reign  of  the  emperor  Trajan, 
and  took  their  name  from  their 
leader,  Elcesai.  They  kept  a  mean 
between  the  Jews,  Christians,  and 
Pagans  ;  they  worshipped  but  one- 
God,  observed  the  Jewish  sabbath, 
circumcision,  and  the  other  cere- 
monies of  the  law  ;  yet  they  re- 
jected the  Pentateuch  and  the 
prophets  ;  nor  had  they  any  more 
respect  for  the  writings  of  the 
apostles. 

ELDER  (j;T^stj!^vT£p@-^j  an  over- 
seer, ruler,  leader. 

Elders,  or  seniors,  in  ancient 
Jewish  polity,  were  persons  the 
most  considerable  for  age,  expe- 
rience, and  wisdom.  Of  this  sort 
were  the  70  men  whom  Moses 
associated  with  himself  in  the  go- 
vernment ;  such  likewise  after- 
wards were  those  who  held  the 
first  mark  in  the  svniagogue  as  pre- 
sidents.— Elders,  in  church  his- 
torj'^,    were  origiufilly  those  who 


ELD 


254 


ELE 


held  the  first  place  in  the  assem- 
blies of  the  primitive  christians. 
The  word  presbyter  is  often  used 
in  the  New  Testament  in  this  sig- 
nification :  hence  the  first  coun- 
cils of  christians  were  called  Pres- 
byteria,  or  councils  of  elders. — 
Elders,  in  the  presbyterian  disci- 
pline, are  officers  who,  in  conjunc- 
tion with  the  ministers  and  dea- 
cons, compose  the  kirk  sessions, 
who  formerly  used  to  inspect  and 
regulate  matters  of  religion  and 
discipline  j  but  whose  principal 
.  business  now  is  to  take  care  of  the 
poor's  funds.  They  are  chosen 
from  among  the  people,  and  are 
received  publicly  with  some  de- 
gree of  ceremony.  In  Scotland 
there  is  an  indefinite  number  of 
elders  in  each  parish,  generally 
about  twelve.  See  Presbyte- 
rians. 

it  has  long  been  a  matter  of 
dispute  whether  there  are  any 
such  officers  as  lay-elders  men- 
tioned in  scripture.  On  the  one 
side  it  is  observed,  that  these  of- 
ficers are  no  where  mentioned  as 
being  alone  or  single,  but  always 
as  being  many  in  every  congre- 
gation. They  are  also  mentioned 
separately  from  the  brethren. 
Their  office,  more  than  once,  is 
described  as  being  distinct  from 
that  of  preaching,  not  only  in 
jRom.  xii,  v/here  he  that  ruleth 
is  expressly  distinguished  from  him 
that  exhorteih  or  teacheth,  but 
also  in  that  passage,  1st  Tim.  v,  IT. 
On  the  other  side  it  is  said,  that, 
from  the  above-mentioned  pas- 
sages, nothing  canbe  collected  with 
certainty  to  establish  this  opinion  ; 
neither  can  it  be  inferred  from 
any   other  passage  that  churches 


should  be  furnished  with  such  of* 
ficers,  though  perhaps  prudence, 
in  some  circumstances,  may  make 
them  expedient.  "  I  incline  to 
think,"  says  Dr.  Guise,  on  the  pas- 
sage 1st  Tim.  v,  17,  "  that  the 
apostle  intends  orAy  preaching  el- 
ders^ when  he  directs  double  ho- 
nour to  be  paid  to  the  elders  that 
rule  well,  especially  those  who  la- 
bour in  the  word  and  doctrine ;  and 
that  the  distinction  lies  not  in  the 
order  of  officers,  but  in  the  degree 
of  their  diligence,  faithfulness,  and 
eminence  in  laboriously  fulfilling 
their  ministerial  work  ;  and  so  the 
emphasis  is  to  be  laid  on  the  word 
labour  in  the  word  and  doctrine, 
which  has  an  especially  annexed 
to  it." 

ELECTION.  This  word  has 
different  meanings.  1.  It  signifies 
God's  taking  a  whole  nation,  com- 
munity, or  body  of  men,  into  ex- 
ternal covenant  with  himself,  by 
giving  them  the  advantage  of  reve- 
lation as  the  rule  of  their  belief 
and  practice,  when  other  nations 
are  without  it,  Deut.  vii,  6. — 2.  A 
temporary  designation  of  some  per- 
son or  persons  to  the  filling  up 
some  particular  station  in  the  vi- 
sible church,  or  office  in  civil  life, 
John  vi,  70.    1st  Sam.  x,  24. — 

3.  That  gracious  and  almighty 
act  of  the  Divine  Spirit,  whereby 
God  actually  and  visibly  separates 
his  people  from  the  world  by  ef- 
fectual  calling,    John   xv,    19. — 

4.  That  eternal,  sovereign,  uncon- 
ditional, particular,  and  immuta- 
ble act  of  God,  whereby  he  select- 
ed some  from  among  all  mankind, 
and  of  every  nation  under  heaven, 
to  be  redeemed  and  everlastingly 
saved  by  Christ,   Eph,  i,  4.  2d 


EMU 


255 


ENT 


Thess.  ii,  13.     See  Decree,  and 

PPEDESTI  NATION. 

ELOQUENCE  Pulpit.  "  The 
chief  characteristics  of  the  elo- 
quence suited  to  the  pulpit  are 
these  two, — gravity  and  warmth. 
The  serious  nature  of  the  subjects 
belonging  to  the  pulpit  requires 
gravity  ;  their  importance  to  man- 
kind requires  warmth.  It  is  far 
from  being  either  easv  or  com- 
mon to  unite  these  characters  of 
eloquence.  The  grave ^  when  it  is 
predominant,  is  apt  to  run  into  a 
dull,  uniform  sokmnity.  The 
rvarm^  when  it  wants  gravity,  bor- 
ders on  the  theatrical  and  light. 
The  union  of  the  two  must  be 
studied  by  all  preachers,  as  of  the 
utmost  consequence  both  in  the 
composition  of  their  discourses, 
and  in  their  manner  of  delivery. 
Gravity  and  warmth  united,  form 
that  character  of  preaching  which 
the  French  call  onction;  the  affect- 
ing, penetrating,  interesting  man- 
ner, flowing  from  a  strong  sensi- 
bility of  heart  in  the  preacher,  the 
importance  of  those  truths  which 
he  delivers,  and  an  earnest  de- 
sire that  they  may  make  full  im- 
pression on  the  hearts  of  his 
hearers."  See  Declamation, 
Sermons. 

EMULATION,  a  generous 
ardour  kindled  by  the  praise  wor- 
thy examples  of  others,  which  im- 
pels us  to  imitate,  to  rival,  and,  if 
possible,  to  excel  them.  This  pas- 
sion involves  in  it  esteem  of  the 
person  whose  attainments  or  con- 
duct we  emulate,  of  the  qualities 
and  actions  in  which  we  emulate 
him,  and  a  desire  of  resemblance, 
together  with  a  joy  springing  from 
the  hope  of  success.     The  word 


comes  originally  from  the  Greek 
cxixiKKx^  contest ;  whence  the  La- 
tin a?mulus,  and  thence  our 
emulation.  Plato  makes  emula- 
tion the  daughter  of  envy :  if  so, 
there  is  a  great  difference  between 
the  mother  and  the  offspring ;  the 
one  being  a  virtue,  and  the  other 
a  vice.  Emulation  admires  great 
actions,  and  strives  to  imitate 
them  ;  envy  recuses  them  the 
praises  that  are  their  due:  emu- 
lation is  generous,  and  only  thinks 
of  equalling  or  surpassing  a  rival ; 
envy  is  low,  and  only  seeks  to 
lessen  him.  It  would,  therefore, 
be  more  proper  to  suppose  emu- 
lation the  daughter  of  admira- 
tion ;  admiration  being  a  princi- 
pal ingredient  in  the  composition 
of  it. 

ENCRATITES,  a  sect,  in  the 
second  century,  who  abstained 
from  marriage,  wine,  and  animals. 
ENERGICI,  a  denomination 
in  the  sixteenth  century ;  so  called 
because  they  held  that  the  eucha- 
rist  was  the  energy  and  virtue  of 
Jesus  Christ ;  not  his  body,  nor  a 
representation  thereof. 

ENERGUMENS,  persons  sup- 
posed to  be  possessed  with  the 
devil,  concerning  whom  there  were 
many  regulations  among  the  pri- 
mitive christians.  They  were 
denied  baptism  and  the  eucharist, 
at  least  this  was  the  practice  of 
some  churches  ;  and  though  they 
were  under  the  care  of  exorcists, 
yet  it  was  thought  a  becoming  act 
of  charity  to  let  them  have  the 
public  prayers  of  the  church,  at 
which  they  were  permitted  to  be 
present. 

ENTHUSIASM.     To  obtain 
just  definitions  of  words  which  are 


ENT 


256 


EN  V 


promiscuously  used,  it  must  be 
confessed,  is  no  smiall  difficulty. 
This  word,  it  seems  is  used  both 
in  a  good  and  a  bad  sense.  In  its 
best  sense  it  signifies  a  divine  affla- 
tus, or  inspiration.  It  is  also  taken 
for  that  noble  ardour  of  mind 
which  leads  us  to  imagine  anything 
sublime,  grand,  or  surprising.  In 
its  worse  sense  it  signifies  any  im- 
pression on  the  fancy,  or  agitation 
of  the  passions,  of  which  a  man 
can  give  no  rational  account.  It 
is  generally  applied  to  religious 
characters,  and  is  said  to  be  de- 
rived (aiTro  T.vv  tvQuaix's  ij.xi]ioiji.vj'jjv) 
from  the  wild  gestures  and  speeches 
of  ancient  religionists,  pretending 
to  more  than  oi'dinary  and  more 
than  true  communications  with  the 
gods,  and  particularly  ''bv^-jtims,  in 
the  act  or  at  the  time  of  sacri- 
ficing. In  this  sense,  then,  it 
signifies  that  impulse  of  the  mind 
which  leads  a  man  to  suppose  he 
has  some  remarkable  intercourse 
v/ith  the  Deity,  while  at  the  same 
time  it  is  nothing  more  than  the 
effects  of  a  heated  imagination,  or 
a  sanguine  constitution. 

That  the  Divine  Being  permits 
his  people  to  enjoy  fellowship  with 
him,  and  that  he  can  work  upon 
the  minds  of  his  creatures  when 
and  how  he  pleases,  cannot  be 
denied.  But,  then,  what  is  the  cri- 
terion by  which  we  are  to  judge, 
in  order  to  distinguish  it  from  en- 
thusiasm? It  is  necessary  there 
should  be  some  rule,  for  without  it 
the  greatest  extravagancies  would 
be  committed,  the  most  notorious 
impostors  countenanced',  and  the 
most  enormous  evils  ensue.  Now 
this  criterion  is  the  word  of  God ; 
from  whk:h  vre  learn  that  we  are 


to  expect  no  new  revelations,  no 
extraordinaiy  gifts,  as  in  the  apos- 
tles'time  :  that  whatever  opinions, 
feelings,  views,  or  impressions  we 
may  have,  if  they  are  inconsistent 
with  reason,  if  they  do  not  tend  to 
humble  u§,  if  they  do  not  influence 
our  temper,  regulate  our  lives, 
and  make  us  just,  pious,  honest, 
and  uniform,  they  cannot  come 
from  God,  but  are  evidently  the 
effusions  of  an  enthusiastic  brain. 
On  the  other  hand,  if  the  mind  be 
enlightened,  if  the  will  which  was 
perverse  be  renovated,  detached 
from  evil,  and  inclined  to  good  ; 
if  the  powers  be  roused  to  exertion 
for  the  promotion  of  the  Divine 
glory,  and  the   good  of  men  ;    if 

i  the  natural  corruptions  of  the 
heart  be  suppressed  ;  if  peace  and 
joy  arise  from  a  viev/  of  the  good- 
ness of  God,  attended  with  a  spi- 
ritual frame  of  mind,  a  heart  de- 
voted to  God,  and  a  holy,  useful 
life ;  however  this  may  be  branded 
v/ith  the  name  of  enthusiasm,  it 
certainly  is  from  God,  because 
bare  human  efforts,  unassisted  by 
him,  could  never  produce  such  ef- 
fects as  these.  Theol.  3Iisc.^  vol. 
ii,  p.  43 ;  Locke  on  Underst.^  vol. 
ii,  ch.  19;  Spect.^  No.  201,  vol. 
iii ;  Wesley'' s  Ser.  on  Enthusiasm  ; 
Mrs.  Hj.  Moore''s   Hints  toxvards 

forming  the  character  of  a  young 
Princess^  vol.  ii,  p.  246. 

ENVY,  a  sensation  of  uneasiness 
and  disquiet,  arising  from  the  ad- 
vantages which  others  are  supposed 
to  possess  above  us,  accompanied 
with  malignity  towards  those  who 
possess  them.  "  This,"  says  a 
good  writer,  "  is  universally  ad- 
mitted to  be  one  of  the  blackest 
passions  in  the  human  heart.    Na. 


EON 


257 


EPI 


©ne,  indeed,  is  to  be  condemned 
for  defendinghis  rights,  and  shew- 
ing displeasure  against  a  malicious 
enemy ;  but  to  conceive  ill  will 
at  one  who  has  attacked  none  of 
our  rights,  nor  done  us  any  in- 
jury, solely  because  he  is  more 
prosperous  than  we  are,  is  a 
disposition  altogether  unnatural. 
Hence  the  character  of  an  envious 
man  is  universally  odious.  All 
disclaim  it;  and  they  who  feel 
themselves  under  the  influence  of 
this  passion,  carefully  conceal  it. 
The  chief  grounds  of  envy  may 
be  reduced  to  three  :  accomplish- 
ments of  mind ;  advantages  of 
birth,  rank,  and  fortune  ;  and  su- 
perior success  in  worldly  pursuits. 
To  subdue  this  odious  disposition, 
let  us  consider  its  sinful  and  crimi- 
nal nature;  the  mischiefs  it  oc- 
casions to  the  world  ;  the  unhap- 
piness  it  produces  to  him  who  pos- 
sesses it ;  the  evil  causes  that  nou- 
rish it,  such  as  pride  and  indolence : 
let  us,  moreover,  bring  often  into 
view  those  religious  considerations 
which  regard  us  as  christians;  how 
unwortliy  we  are  in  the  sight  of 
God  ;  how  much  the  blessings 
which  we  enjoy  are  above  what  we 
deserve.  I-et  us  learn  reverence 
and  submission  to  that  Divine 
government  which  has  appointed 
to  every  one  such  a  condition  as 
Is  fittest  for  him  to  possess  ;  let  us 
consider  how  opposite  the  chris- 
tian spirit  is  to  envy ;  above  all, 
let  us  offer  up  our  prayers  to  the 
Almighty,  that  he  would  purify 
our  hearts  from  a  passion  which  is 
so  base  and  so  criminal." 

EONIANS,  the  followers  of 
Eon,  a  wild  fanatic,  of  the  province 
of  Bretagne,  in  the  twelfth  century : 

Vol.  I.  L  1 


he  concluded  from  the  resem- 
blance between  ewm,  in  the  form  for 
exorcising  malignant  spirits,  viz. 
"  per  eum,  qui  venturus  est  ju- 
dicare  vivos  et  mortuos,"  and  his 
own  name  Eon,  thathe  was  the  son 
of  God,  and  ordained  to  judge  the 
quick  and  dead.  Eon  was,  how- 
ever, solemnly  condemned  by  the 
council  at  Rheims,  in  1148,  and 
ended  his  days  in  a  priscm.  He 
left  behind  him  a  number  of  fol- 
lowers, whom  persecution  and 
death  so  weakly  and  cruelly  em- 
ployed could  not  persuade  to 
abandon  his  cause,  or  to  renounce 
an  absurdity  which,  says  Mosheim, 
one  would  think,  could  never  have 
gained  credit  but  in  such  a  place 
as  Bedlam. 

EOQUINIANS,  a  denomina- 
tion in  the  sixteenth  century;  so  cal- 
led from  one  Eoquinus,  their  mas- 
ter, who  taught  that  Christ  did  not 
die  for  the  wicked,  but  for  the  faith- 
ful onlv. 

EPICUREANS,  the  disciples 
of  Epicurus,  who  flourished  about 
A.M.  3700.  This  sect  maintained 
that  the  world  was  formed  not  by 
God,  nor  with  any  design,  but  by 
the  fortuitous  concourse  of  atoms. 
They  denied  that  God  governs 
the  world,  or  in  the  least  conde- 
scends to  interfere  with  creatures 
below  ;  they  denied  the  immor- 
tality of  the  soul,  and  the  exist- 
ence of  angels;  they  maintained 
that  happiness  consisted  in  plea- 
sure; but  some  of  them  placed 
this  pleasure  inthc  tranquillity  and 
joy  of  the  mind  arising  from  the 
practice  of  moral  virtue,  and 
which  is  thought  by  some  to  have 
been  the  true  principle  of  Epicu- 
rus ;  others  understood  him  in  the 


EPI 


258 


EPI 


gfoss  sense,  and  placed  all  their 
happiness  in  corporeal  pleasure. 
When  Paul  was  at  Athens,  he 
had  conferences  with  the  Epicu- 
rean philosophers,  Acts  xvii,  18. 
The  word  Epicurean  is  used,  at 
present,  for  an  indolent,  effeminate, 
and  voluptuous  person,  who  only 
consults  his  private  and  particular 
pleasure.     See  Academics. 

EPIPKANY,  a  christian  fes- 
tival, otherwise  called  the  mani- 
festation of  Christ  to  the  Gentiles, 
observed  on  the  6th  of  January,  in 
honour  of  the  appearance  of  our 
Saviour  to  the  three  magi,  or  wise 
men,  who  came  to  adore  him  and 
bring  him  presents. 

EPISCOPACY,  that  form  of 
church  government  in  which  dioce- 
san bishops  are  established  as  dis- 
tinct from  and  superior  to  priests 
•or  presbyters. 

The  controversy  respecting 
episcopacy  commenced  soon  after 
the  reformation ;  and  has  been  agi- 
tated with  great  warmth,  between 
the  Episcopalians  on  the  one  side, 
and  the  Presbyterians  and  Inde- 
pendents on  the  other.  Among 
the  Protestant  churches  abroad, 
those  which  were  reformed  by 
Luther  and  his  associates  are  in 
general  episcopal ;  whilst  such  as 
follow  the  doctrines  of  Calvin 
have  for  the  most  part  thrown  off 
the  order  of  bishops  as  one  of  the 
corruptions  of  popery.  In  Eng- 
land, however,  the  controversy 
has  been  considered  as  of  greater 
importance  than  on  the  continent. 
It  has  been  strenuously  maintain- 
ed by  one  patr}',  that  the  episcopal 
order  is  essential  to  the  constitution 
of  the  church  ;  and  by  others,  that 
it  is  a  pernicious  encroachment 


on  the  rights  of  men,  for  which 
there  is  no  authority  in  scripture. 
We  will  just  briefly  state  their  ar- 
guments. 

I.  Episcopacy^  arguments  for.  1  * 
Some  argue  that  the  nature  of  the 
office  which  the  apostles  bore  was 
such,  that  the  edification  of  the 
church  would  require  they  should 
have  some  successors  in  those  mi- 
nistrations which  are  not  common 
to  gospel  ministers. — 2.  That  Ti- 
mothy and  Titus  were  bishops  of 
Ephesus  andCrete,v/hose  business 
it  was  to  exercise  such  extraor- 
dinary acts  of  jurisdiction  as  are 
now  claimed  for  diocesan  bishops, 
1st  Tim.  i,  3.  Tim.  iii,  19,  22. 
2d  Tim.    ii,    2.    Tit.    i,    5,    &c. 

Tit.  iii,  10 3.  Some  have  argued 

from  the  mention  of  angels,  i.  e. 
as  they  understand  it,  of  diocesan 
bishops,  in  the  seven  churches  of 
Asia,  particularly  the  angel  of 
Ephesus,  though  there  were  many 
ministers  employed  in  it  long  be- 
fore the  date  of  that  epistle.  Acts 
XX,  17,  18. — 4.  It  is  urged  that 
some  of  the  churches  which  were 
formed  in  large  cities  during  the 
lives  of  the  apostles,  and  especially 
that  at  Jerusalem,  consisted  of 
such  vast  numbers  as  could  not 
possibly  assemble  at  one  place. — • 
5.  That  in  the  writers  who  suc- 
ceeded the  inspired  penmen  there 
is  a  multiplied  and  concurring 
evidence  to  prove  the  apostolic 
institution  of  episcopacy. 

II.  Episcopacij^  arguments  a- 
gainst.  1.  To  the  above  it  is  an- 
swered, that,  as  the  office  of  the 
apostles  was  such  as  to  require  ex- 
traordinary and  miraculous  endow- 
ments for  the  discharge  of  many 
parts  of  it,  it  is  impossible  that  they 


EPI 


259 


EPI 


can  have  any  successors  in  those 
services  who  are  not  empowered 
for  the  execution  of  them  as  the 
apostles  themselves  were  ;  and  it 
is  maintained,  that  so  far  as  ordi- 
nation, confirmation,  and  excom- 
munication, may  be  performed 
without  miraculous  gifts,  there 
is  nothing  in  them  but  what 
seems  to  suit  the  pastoral  office  in 
general. 

2.  That  Timothy  and  Titus  had 
not  a  stated  residence  in  these 
churches,  but  only  visited  them  for 
a  time,  2d  Tim.  iv,  9,  13.  Tit.  iii, 
12.  It  also  appears,  from  other 
places  in  which  the  journeys  of  Ti- 
mothy and  Titus  are  mentioned, 
that  they  were  a  kind  of  itinerant 
officers,  called  evangelists,  who 
were  assistants  to  the  apostles  j  for 
there  is  great  reason  to  believe  the 
first  epistle  to  Timothy  was  written 
prior  to  those  from  Rome  in  the 
time  of  Paul's  imprisonment,  as 
some  think  the  second  was  also. 
To  which  we  may  add,  that  it 
seems  probable,  at  least,  that  they 
had  very  extraordinary  gifts  to 
furnish  them  for  their  superior  of- 
fices, 1  st  Tim.  iv,  14.  Eph.  iv,  11. 
2d  Tim.  iv,  5.  And  though  Timothy 
was  with  Paul  when  he  took  his 
leave  of  the  elders  of  Ephesus  (Acts 
xx),  the  apostle  gives  not  the  least 
hint  of  any  extraordinary  power 
with  which  he  was  invested,  nor 
says  one  word  to  engage  their  obe- 
dience to  him ;  which  is  a  very 
strong  presumption  that  no  such 
relation  did  subsist,  or  was  to  take 
place. 

3.  As  to  the  angels  of  the  seven 
churches  in  Asia,  it  is.  certain  that, 
for  any  thing  which  appears  in  our 
Lord's  epistles  to  them  (Rev.  ii 


and  iii),  they  might  be  no  more 
than  the  pastors  of  single  congre- 
gations with  their  proper  assistants. 

4.  To  the  fourth  argument  it  is 
answered,  1.  That  the  v/ord  (y.vfia.'^ts 
may  only  signify  great  numbers, 
and  may  not  be  intended  to  express 
that  there  were  several  times  ten 
thousand,  in  an  exact  and  literal 
sense:  compare  Luke,  ch.  xii,  ver. 
1.  (Greek). — 2.  That  no  sufficient 
proof  is  brought  from  scripture  of 
there  being  such  numbers  of  peo- 
ple in  any  particular  place  as  this 
supposes  ;  for  the  myriads  of  be- 
lieving Jews  spoken  of  in  the  pre- 
ceding text,  as  well  as  the  num- 
bers mentioned,  Acts  ii,  41.  Acts 
iv,  4,  might  very  probably  be 
those  who  were  gathered  together 
at  those  great  feasts  from  distant 
places,  of  which  few  might  have 
their  stated  residence  in  that  city. 
See  Acts,  ch.  viii,  ver.  1. — 3.  If 
the  number  were  so  great  as  the 
objection  supposes,  there  might 
be,  for  any  thing  which  appears 
in  scripture,  several  bishops  in  the 
same  city,  as  there  are,  among 
those  who  do  not  allow  of  dio- 
cesan episcopacy,  several  co-or- 
dinate pastors,  overseers,  or  bi- 
shops :  and  though  Eusebius  does 
indeed  pretend  to  give  us  a  cata- 
logue of  the  bishops  of  Jerusalem, 
it  is  to  be  remembered  how  the 
christians  had  been  dispersed  from 
thence  for  a  considerable  time,  at 
and  after  the  Roman  war,  and 
removed  into  other  parts,  which 
must  necessarily  very  much  in- 
crease the  uncertainty  wliich  Eu- 
sebius himself  ov/ns  there  was,  as 
to  the  succession  of  bishops  in 
most  of  the  ancient  sees. 

5.  As  to  the  ancient  writers,  it  is 


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260 


EPI 


observed,  that  though  Clemens  Ro- 
manus  recommends  to  the  Corin- 
thians the  example  of  the  Jewish 
church,  where  the  high-priest,  or- 
dinary priest,  and  Levites,  knew 
and  observed  their  respective  offi- 
ces, yet  he  never  mentions  presby- 
ters and  bishops  as  distinct,  nor  re- 
fers the  contending  Corinthians  to 
any  one  ecclesiastical  head  as  the 
centre  of  unity,  which  he  would 
probably  have   done  if  there  had 
been  any  diocesan  bishops  among 
them  J  nay,  he  seems  evidently  to 
speak  of  pi'esbyters  as  exercising 
the  episcopal  office.  See  39th  sect, 
of  his  epistle. — 2.  As  for  Irenseiis, 
it  docs  not  appear  that  he  made  any 
distinction    between  bishops   and 
presbyters.     He  does  indeed  men- 
tion the  succession  of  bishops  from 
the  apostles,  which  is  reconcileable 
with  the  supposition  of  their  being 
parochial,  nor  altogether  irrecon- 
cileable  with   the   supposition    of 
joint  pastors  in  those  churches. — 
3.  It   is  allowed  that  Ignatius  in 
■many  places  distinguishes  between 
bishops  and  presbyters,    and    re- 
quires obedience  to  bishops  from 
the  whole  church;  but  as  he  often 
supposes  each  of  the  churches  to 
which  he  wrote  to  meet  in    one 
place,    and    represents    them    as 
breaking  one  loaf,  and  surround- 
ing one    altar,    and    charges    the 
bishop  to  know  all  his  flock    by 
name,  it  is  most  evident  that  he 
must  speak  of  a  parochial  and  not 
a  diocesan  bishop. — 4.   Polycarp 
exhorts  the  christians   at  Philippi 
to  be  subject  to  the  presbyters  and 
deacons,  but  says  not 'one  word 
about  any  bishop. — 5.  Justin  Mar- 
tyr speaks  of  the  president^   but 


then  he  represents  him  as  being 
present  at  every  administration  of 
the  eucharist,  which  he  also  men- 
tions as  always  making  a  part  of 
their  public  worship  ;  so  that  the 
bishop  here  must  have  only  been 
the  pastor  of  one  congregation. — 
6.  Tertullian  speaks  of  approved 
elders  ;  but  there  is  nothing  said 
of  them  that  proves  a  diocesan, 
since  all  he  says  might  be  applied 
to  a  parochial  bishop. — 7.  Though 
Clemens  Alexandrinus  speaks  of 
bishops,  priests,  and  deacons,  yet 
it  cannot  be  inferred  from  hence 
that  the  bishops  of  whom  he  speaks 
were  any  thing  more  than  paro- 
chial.— 8.  Origen  speaks  distinctly 
of  bishops  and  pi'esbyters,  but 
unites  them  both,  as  it  seems,  un- 
der the  common  name  of  priests, 
saying  nothing  of  the  power  of 
bishops  as  extending  beyond  one 
congregation,  and  rather  insinu- 
ates the  contrary,  when  he  speaks 
of  oifenders  as  brought  before  the 
whole  church  to  be  judged  by  it. 
— 9.  The  apostolic  constitutions 
frequently  distinguish  between  bi- 
shops and  presbyters  ;  but  these 
constitutions  cannot  be  depended 
on,  as  they  are  supposed  to  be  a 
forgery  of  the  fourth  century. — 
10.  It  is  allovfed  that  in  succeed- 
ing ages  the  difference  between 
bishops  and  presbyters  came  to  be 
more  and  more  magnified,  and 
various  churches  came  under  the 
care  of  the  same  bishop  :  never- 
theless, Jerom  does  expressly  speak 
of  bishops  and  presbyters  as  of  the 
same  order  ;  and  Gregory  Nazi- 
anzen  speaks  of  the  great  and  af- 
fecting distinction  made  bet\veen 
ministers  in  prerogative  of  place, 


EPI 


261 


EQU 


and  other  tyrannical  privileges  (as 
he  calls  them),  as  a  lamentable 
knd  destructive  thing. 

III.  Episcopacy^  how  introduced. 
— It  is  easy  to  apprehend  how 
episcopacy,  as  it  was  in  the  primi- 
tive church,  with  those  alterations 
which  it  afterwards  received, 
might  be  gradually  introduced. 
The  apostles  seem  to  have  taught 
chiefly  in  large  cities ;  they  settled 
ministers  there,  who,  preaching  in 
country  villages,  or  smaller  towns, 
increased  the  number  of  converts  : 
it  would  have  been  most  reason- 
able that  those  new  converts,  which 
lay  at  a  considerable  distance  from 
the  large  towns,  should,  when  they 
grewnumerous,have  formed  them- 
selves into  distinct  churches,  un- 
der the  care  of  their  proper  pas- 
tors or  bishops,  independendy  on 
any  of  their  neighbours  ;  but  the 
reverence  which  would  naturallv 
be  paid  to  men  who  had  conversed 
with  the  apostles,  and  perhaps  some 
desire  of  influence  and  dominion, 
from  which  the  hearts  of  very  good 
men  might  not  be  entirely  free,  and 
which  early  began  to  work  (John 
iii,  9.  2d  Thess.  ii,  7),  might  easily 
lay  a  foundation  for  such  a  subor- 
dination in  the  ministers  of  neiv 
erected  churches,  to  those  which 
were  more  ancient;  and  much 
more  easily  might  the  superiority 
of  a  pastor  to  his  assistant  presby- 
ters increase,  till  it  at  length  came 
to  that  great  difference  which  we 
own  was  early  made,  and  probably 
soon  carried  to  an  excess.  And  if 
there  were  that  degree  of  dege- 
neracy in  the  church,  and  defec- 
tion from  the  purity  and  vigour  of 
religion,  which  the  learned  Vitrin- 


ga  supposes  to  have  happened  be- 
tween the  time  of  Nero  and  Tra- 
jan, it  would  be  less  surprising  that 
those  evil  principles,  which  occa- 
sioned episcopal,  and  at  length  the 
papal  usurpation,  should  before 
that  time  exert  some  considerable 
influence. 

IV.  Episcopacy  reduced.,  plan  of. 
Archbishop  Usher  projected  apian 
for  the  reduction  of  episcopacy, 
by  which  he  would  have  mode- 
rated it  in  such  a  manner  as  to 
have  brought  it  very  near  the  Pres- 
byterian government  of  the  Scotch 
church  ;  the  weekly  parochial  ves- 
try answering  to  their  church  ses- 
sion ;  the  monthly  synod  to  be  held 
by  the  Chorepiscopi  answering  to 
their  presbyteries ;  the  diocesan 
synod  to  their  provincial,  and  the 
national  to  their  general  assembly. 
The  meeting  of  the  dean  and  chap- 
ter, practised  in  the  church  of 
England,  is  but  a  faint  shadow  of 
the  second,  the  ecclesiastical  court 
of  the  third,  and  the  convocation  of 
the  fourth.  Binghani's  Origines 
Ecclesiastics  ;  Stilling jleet' s  Ori- 
gines Sacra ;  Boyse  and  Howe  on 
Epis. ;  Benson^ s  Dissertation  con- 
cerning- thefrst  Set.  of  the  Chris- 
tian Church;  King^s  Const,  of  the 
Church ;  Doddridge's  Lectures., 
lee.  196;  Clarhon  and  Dr.  Mau- 
rice on  Episcopacy ;  Eiic.  Brit. 

EPISCOPALIAN,  one  who 
prefers  the  episcopal  government 
and  discipline  to  all  others.  See 
last  article. 

EPISTLES  OF  BARNA- 
BAS.    See  Barnabas. 

EQUANIMITY  is  an  even 
uniform  state  of  mind  amidst  all 
the  vicissitudes  of  time,  and  chan- 


EQU 


262 


ERA 


gss  of  circumstances.,  to  which  we 
are  subject  in  the  present  state. 
One  of  this  disposition  is  not  de- 
jected v/hen  under  adversity,  or 
elated  when  in  the  height  of  pros- 
perity :  he  is  equally  affable  to 
ethers,  and  contented  in  himself. 
The  excellency  of  this  disposition 
is  beyond  all  praise.  It  may  be 
considered  as  the  grand  remedy 
for  all  the  diseases  and  miseries  of 
life,  and  the  only  way  by  which 
we  can  preserve  the  dignity  of  our 
character  as  men  and  as  chris- 
tians. 

EQUITY  is  that  exact  rule  of 
righteousness  or  justice  which  is  to 
beobservedbetweenman  and  man. 
Our  Lord  beautifully  and  com- 
prehensively expresses  it  in  these 
words :  "  All  things  whatsoever 
ye  would  that  men  should  do  unto 
you,  do  ye  even  so  to  them,  for 
this  is  the  law  and  the  prophets," 
Matt,  vii,  12.  This  golden  rule, 
says  Dr.  Watts,  has  many  excel- 
lent properties  in  it.  1.  It  is  a 
rule  that  is  easy  to  be  understood, 
and  as  easy  to  be  applied  by  the 
meanest  and  weakest  understand- 
ing, Isa.  XXXV,  8. — 2.  It  is  a  very 
short  rule,  and  easy  to  be  remem- 
bered :  the  weakest  memory  can 
retain  it ;  and  the  meanest  of  man- 
kind may  carry  this  about  with 
them,  and  have  it  ready  upon  all 
occasions. — 3.  This  excellent  pre- 
cept carries  greater  evidence  to 
the  conscience,  and  a  stronger  de- 
gree of  conviction  in  it,  than  any 
other  rule  of  moral  virtue. — 4.  It  is 
particularly  fitted  for  practice,  be- 
cause it  includes  in  it  a  powerful 
motive  to  stir  us  up  to  do  what  it 
enjoins.- — 5.  It  is  such  a  rule  as, 
if  well  applied,  will  almost  always 


secure  our  neighbour  from  injury, 
and  secure  us  from  guilt  if  we 
should  chance  to  hurt  him. — 6.  It 
is  a  rule  as  much  fitted  to  awaken 
us  to  sincere  repentance,  upon  the 
transgression  of  it,  as  it  is  to  direct 
us  to  our  present  duty. — 7.  It  is 
a  most  extensive  rule,  with  regard 
to  all  the  stations,  ranks,  and  cha- 
racters of  mankind,  for  it  is  per- 
fectly suited  to  them  all. — 8.  It  is 
a  most  comprehensive  rule  with 
regard  to  all  the  actions  and  du- 
ties that  concern  our  neighbours. 
It  teaches  us  to  regulate  our  tem- 
per and  behaviour,  and  promote 
tenderness,  beneficence,  gentle- 
ness, &c. — 9.  It  is  also  a  rule  of 
the  highest  prudence  with  regard 
to  ourselves,  and  promotes  our 
own  interest  in  the  best  manner. — 
10.  This  rule  is  fitted  to  make 
the  whole  world  as  happy  as  the 
present  state  of  things  will  admit. 
See  Watts's  Sermons^  ser.  33,  v.  i ; 
Evans's Ser.^str.  28 ;  Morning'  Ex- 
ercises at  Cripplegate^  ser.  10. 

E  QUI  VOCATION,  the  using 
aterm  or  expression  that  has  a  dou- 
ble meaning.  Equivocations  are 
said  to  be  expedients  to  save  tell- 
ing the  truth,  and  yet  without 
telling  a  falsity  ;  but  if  an  inten- 
tion to  deceive  constitute  the  es- 
sence of  a  lie,  which  in  generalj^it 
does,  I  cannot  conceive  how  it 
can  be  done  without  incurring 
guilt,  as  it  is  certainly  an  intention 
to  deceive. 

ERASTIANS,  so  called  from 
Erastus,  a  German  divine  of  the 
16th  century.  The  pastoral  office, 
according  to  him,  was  only  persua- 
sive, like  a  professor  of  science 
over  his  students,  without  any 
power  of  the  keys  annexed.    Tlie 


ESS 


263 


ST 


Lord's  supper  and  other  ordinan- 
ces of  the  gospel  were  to  be  free 
aihd  open  to  all.  The  minister 
might  dissuade  the  vicious  and  un- 
qualified from  the  communion;  but 
might  not  refuse  it,  or  inflict  any 
kind  of  censure  ;  the  punishment 
of  all  offences,  either  of  a  civil  or 
religious  nature,  being  referred  to 
the  civil  magistrate. 

ERROR,  a  mistake  of  our  judg- 
ment, giving  assent  to  that  which 
is  not  true.  Mr.  Locke  reduces 
the  causes  of  error  to  four.  1. 
Want  of  proofs. — 2.  Want  of  abi- 
lity to  use  them. — 3.  Want  of 
will  to  use  them. — 4.  Wrong  mea- 
sures of  probability.  In  a  moral 
and  scriptural  sense  it  signifies  sin. 
See  Sin. 

ESSENES,  a  very  ancient  sect 
that  was  spread  abroad  through 
Syria,  Egypt,  and  the  neighbour- 
ing countries.  They  maintained 
that  religion  consisted  wholly  in 
contemplation  and  silence.  Some 
of  them  passed  their  lives  in  a  state 
of  celibacy ;  others  embraced  the 
state  of  matrimony,  which  they 
considered  as  lawful,  when  entered 
into  with  the  sole  design  of  pro- 
pagating the  species,  and  not  to  sa- 
tisfy the  demand  of  lust.  Some 
of  them  held  the  possibility  of  ap- 
peasing the  Deity  by  sacrifices, 
though  different  from  that  of 
the  Jews ;  and  others  maintained 
that  no  offering  was  acceptable 
to  God  but  that  of  a  serene  and 
composed  mind,  addicted  to  the 
contemplation  of  divine  things. 
They  looked  upon  the  law  of 
Moses  as  an  allegorical  system  of 
spiritual  and  mysterious  truths ; 
and  renounced,  iu  its  explications, 
all  regard  to  the  outward  letter. 


ESTABLISHMENTS  Religi- 
ous. By  a  religious  establishment 
is  generally  understood  such  an 
intimate  connexion  between  reli- 
gion and  civil  government  as  is 
supposed  to  secure  the  best  inter- 
ests and  great  end  of  both.  This 
article,  like  many  others,  has  af- 
forded matter  of  considerable  dis- 
pute. In  order  that  the  reader 
may  judge  for  himself,  v/e  shall 
take  a  view  of  both  sides  of  the 
question. 

The  partisans  for  religious  es- 
tablishments observe,  that  they 
have  prevailed  universally  in  every 
age  and  nation.  The  ancient  pa- 
triarchs formed  no  extensive  nor 
permanent  associations  but  such 
as  arose  from  the  relationships  or 
Nature.  Every  father  governed 
his  own  family,  and  their  offspring 
submitted  to  his  jurisdiction.  He 
presided  in  tlieir  education  and 
discipline,  in  their  religious  wor- 
ship, and  in  their  general  govern- 
ment. His  knowledge  and  ex- 
perience handed  down  to  them 
their  laws  and  their  customs, 
both  civil  and  religious  ;  and  his 
authority  enforced  them.  The 
offices  of  prophet,  priest,  and 
king,  were  thus  united  in  the  same 
patriarch,  Gen.  xviii,  1 9.  Gen.  xvii, 
and  sxi.  Gen.  xiv,  18.  The  Jews 
enjoyed  a  religious  establishment 
dictated  and  ordained  by  God.  In 
turning  our  attention  to  the  hea- 
then nations  we  shall  find  tlie 
same  incorporation  of  religious 
with  civil  government,  Gen.  xlvii, 
22.  2d  Kings  xvii,  27,  29.  Eveiy 
one  who  is  at  all  acquainted  with 
the  history  of  Greece  and  Rome, 
knows  that  religion  was  altogetber 
blended   with   the   policy   of  the 


EST 


264 


EST 


state.  The  Koran  may  be  consi- 
dered as  the  religious  creed  and 
civil  code  of  all  the  Mahometan 
tribes.  Among  the  Celtes,  or  the 
original  inhabitants  of  Europe,  the 
druids  were  both  their  priests  and 
their  judges,  and  their  judgment 
was  final.  Among  the  Hindoos, 
the  priests  and  sovereigns  are  of 
different  tribes  or  casts,  but  the 
priests  are  superior  in  rank  ;  and 
in  China,  the  emperor  is  sovereign 
pontiff,  and  presides  in  all  public 
acts  of  religion. 

Again ;  it  is  said,  that,  al- 
though there  is  no  form  of  church 
government  absolutely  prescribed 
in  the  New  Testament,  yet  from 
the  associating  law,  on  which 
the  gospel  lays  so  much  stress, 
by  the  respect  for  civil  govern- 
ment it  so  earnestly  enjoins,  and 
by  the  practice  which  followed, 
and  finally  prevailed,  christians 
cannot  be  said  to  disapprove,  but 
to  favour  religious  establishments. 

Religious  establishments,  also, 
it  is  observed,  are  founded  in  the 
nature  of  man,  and  interwoven 
with  all  the  constituent  principles 
of  human  society  :  the  knowledge 
and  profession  of  Christianity  can- 
not be  upheld  without  a  clergy ; 
a  clergy  cannot  be  supported 
v/ithout  a  legal  provision  ;  and  a 
legal  provision  for  the  clergy  can- 
not be  constituted  without  the 
preference  of  one  sect  of  christians 
to  the  rest.  An  established  church 
is  most  likely  to  maintain  clerical 
respectability  and  usefulness,  by 
holding  out  a  suitable  encourage- 
ment to  young  men  to  devote 
themselves  early  to  the  service  of 
the  church  ;  and  likewise  enables 
them  to  obtain  such  knowledge  as 


shall  qualify  them  for  the  import- 
ant work. 

They  who  reason  on  the  con- 
trary side  observe,  that  the  pa- 
triarchs sustaining  civil  as  well  as 
religious  offices,  is  no  proof  at  all 
that  religion  was  incorporated 
with  the  civil  government,'  in  the 
sense  above  referred  to ;  nor  is 
there  the  least  hint  of  it  in  the 
sacred  scriptures.  That  the  case 
of  the  Jews  can  never  be  consider- 
ed in  point,  as  they  were  under  a 
theocracy,  and  a  ceremonial  dis- 
pensation that  was  to  pass  away,  1 
and  consequently  not  designed  to 
be  a  model  for  christian  nations. 
That  whatever  was  the  practice 
of  heathens  in  this  respect,  this 
forms  no  argument  in  favour  of 
that  system  which  is  the  very  op- 
posite to  paganism.  The  church 
of  Christ  is  of  a  spiritual  nature, 
and  ought  not,  yea  cannot,  in 
fact,  be  incorporated  with  the  state 
without  sustaining  material  injury. 
In  the  three  first  and  purest  ages 
of  Christianity,  the  church  was  a 
stranger  to  any  alliance  with  tem- 
poral powers  ;  and,  so  far  from 
needing  their  aid,  religion  never 
flourished  so  much  as  while  they 
were  combined  to  suppress  it.  As 
to  the  support  which  Christianity, 
when  united  to  civil  government, 
yields  to  the  peace  and  good  order 
of  society,  it  is  observed,  that  this 
benefit  will  be  derived  from  it,  at 
least,  in  as  great  a  degree  without 
an  establishment  as  with  it.  Re- 
ligion, if  it  have  any  power,  ope- 
rates on  the  conscience  of  men  ; 
and,  resting  solely  on  the  belief  of 
invisible  realities,  it  can  derive  no 
weight  or  solemnity  from  human 
sanctions.  Human  establishments, 


EST 


26i 


EST 


it  is  said,  have  been,  and  are,  pro- 
ductive of  the  greatest  evils ;  for  in 
this  case  it  is  requisite  to  give  the 
preference  to  some  particular  sys- 
tem ;  and  as  the  magistrate  is  no 
better  judge  of  religion  than  others, 
the  chances  are  as  great  of  his 
lending  his  sanction  to  the  false 
as  the  true.  The  thousands  that 
have  been  persecuted  and  suffered 
in  consequence  of  establishments, 
will  always  form  an  argument  a- 
gainstthem.  Under  establishments 
also,  it  is  said,  corruption  can- 
not be  avoided.  Emolument  must 
be  attached  to  the  national  church, 
which  may  be  a  strong  induce- 
ment to  its  ministers  to  defend  it, 
be  it  ever  so  remote  from  the 
truth.  Thus,  also,  error  becomes 
permanent ;  and  that  set  of  opi- 
nions which  happens  to  prevail 
when  the  establishment  is  form- 
ed, continues,  in  spite  of  supe- 
rior light  and  improvement,  to  be 
handed  down,  without  alteration, 
from  age  to  age.  Hence  the  disa- 
greement between  the  public  creed 
of  the  church  and  the  private 
sentiments  of  its  ministers.  As  to 
the  provision  made  for  the  clergy, 
this  may  be  done  without  an  esta- 
blishment, as  matter  of  fact  shews 
in  hundreds  of  instances.  Dis- 
senting ministers,  or  those  who  do 
not  hold  in  establishments,  it  is 
observed,  are  not  without  means 
of  obtaining  knowledge  ;  but,  on 
the  contrary,  many  of  them  are 
equal  to  their  brethren  in  the  esta- 
blishment for  erudition  and  sound 
learning.  It  is  not  to  be  dissembled 
neither,  that,  among  those  who, 
in  general,  cannot  agree  with  hu- 
man establishments,  they  are  as 
pious  and  as  useful  members  of 
Vol.  I.  Mm 


society  as  others.  Finally,  though 
all  christians  should  pay  respect  to 
civil  magistrates  as  such,  and  all 
magistrates  ought  to  encourage  the 
church,  yet  no  civil  magistrates 
have  any  power  to  establish  any 
particular  form  of  religion  bind- 
ing upon  the  consciences  of  the 
subject ;  nor  are  magistrates  even 
represented  in  scripture  as  officers 
or  rulers  of  the  church.  Should 
the  reader  be  desirous  of  prosecut- 
ing this  subject  farther,  he  laay 
consult  Warburton^it  Alliance  be- 
trveen  Church  and  State  ;  Christie's 
Essay  on  Establishments ;  Palerfs 
Mor.  Phil.,  V.  ii,  c.  10;  Bishop 
Laxv's  Theory  of  Religion;  Watts' s 
Civil  Power  in  Things  sacred^third 
volume  of  his  rvorks  ;  HaWs  Liberty 
of  the  Press,  sec.  5  ;  Mrs.  He 
Moore's  Hints  on  forming  the  Cha- 
racter of  a  young  Princess,  vol.  ii, 
p.  350  ;  but  especially  Ranken  and 
Graham's  pieces  on  the  subject ; 
the  former  for,  and  the  latter 
against  establishments. 

ESTEEM  is  that  high  and  ex- 
alted thought  of,  and  value  for  any 
thing,  which  arises  from  a  sense  of 
its  own  intrinsic  worth  and  excel- 
lency. Esteem  is  higher  than 
simple  approbation,  which  is  a  de- 
cision of  the  judgment ;  it  is  the 
commencement  of  affection  ;  it  is 
a  degree  of  love  for  others-^  on  ac- 
count of  their  pleasing  qualities, 
though  they  should  not  immedi- 
ately interest  oiu'selves  ;  by  which 
it  is  distinguished  from  gratitude. 
Our  esteem  of  God  manifests  it- 
self in  never  mentioning  his  name 
without  reverence  ;  in  bowing  the 
knee  ;  in  prayer  and  praise  ;  in  all 
the  several  forms  of  outward  de- 
votion, and  in  quick  resentment  of 


/ 


ETE 


266 


ETE 


any  dishonour  done  to  hiui.  Our 
high  esteem  or  veneration  of  any 
man  appeal's  in  a  humble  respect- 
ful behaviour  toward  him,  speak- 
ing his  praises,  imitating  his  ex- 
cellencies, and  resenting  his  dis- 
honour. 

ETERNITY,  with  respect  to 
God,  is  a  duration  without  begin- 
ning or  end.  As  it  is  the  attribute 
of  human  nature,  it  is  a  duration 
that  has  a  beginning,  but  will  never 
ha,ve  an  end.  "  It  is  a  duration," 
says  a  lively  writer,  "  that  ex- 
cludes all  number  and  computa- 
tion :  days,  and  months,  and  years, 
yea,  and  ages,  are  lost  in  it,  like 
drops  in  the  ocean !  Millions  of 
millions  of  years,  as  many  years 
as  there  are  sands  on  the  sea-shore, 
or  particles  of  dust  in  the  globe  of 
the  earth,  and  these  multiplied  to 
the  highest  reach  of  number,  all 
these  are  nothing  to  eternity.  They 
do  not  bear  the  least  imaginable 
proportion  to  it,  for  these  will 
come  to  an  end,  as  certainly  as  a 
day ;  but  eternity  will  never,  ne- 
ver, never,  come  to  an  end !  It  is 
a  line  without  end  !  it  is  an  ocean 
without  a  shore !  Alas  !  what  shall 
I  say  of  it  ?  it  is  an  infinite,  un- 
known something,  that  neither 
human  thought  can  grasp,  nor  hu- 
man language  describe  !"  Orton  on 
Eternity;  Shoxver  on  ditto;  Davis's 
Sermons^  ser.  1 1  ;  SaurirHs  Ser- 
mons^ vol.  iii,  p.  370. 

ETERNITY  OF  GOD  is  the 
perpetual  continuance  of  his  being, 
without  beginning,  end,  or  suc- 
cession. That  he  is  xvithout  be- 
ginnings says  Dr.  Gill,  may  be 
proved  from,  1.  His  necessary  self- 
existence,  Exod.  iii,  14-. — 2.  From 
his  attributes,  several  of  which  are 


said  to  be  eternal,  Rom.  i,  20. 
Acts  XV,  18.  Psal.  ciii,  17.  Jer. 
xxxi,  3 — 3.  From  his  purposes, 
which  are  also  said  to  be  from 
eternity,  Isa.  xxv,  1.  Eph.  iii,  11. 
Rom.  ix,  11.  Eph.  i,  4. — 4.  From 
the  covenant  of  grace,  which  is 
eternal,  2d  Sam.  xxiii,  5.  Mic.  v,  2. 

That  he  is  without  end^  may  be 
proved  from,  1.  His  spirituality 
and  simplicity,  Rom.  i,  23. — 2. 
From  his  independency,  Rom.  ix, 
5. — 3.  From  his  immutability,  2d 
Pet.  i,  24,  25.  Mai.  iii,  6.  Psal. 
cii,  26,  27. — 4.  From  his  domi- 
nion and  government,  said  never 
to  end,  Jer.  x,  10.  Psal.  x,  16. 
Dan.  iv,  3. 

That  he  is  xvithout  succession.,  or 
any  distinctions  of  time  succeeding 
one  to  another,  as  moments,  mi- 
nutes,   &c.   may  be  proved  from, 
1.  His  existence  before  such  were 
in  being,  Isa.  xliii,   13. — 2.  The 
distinctions  and  differences  of  time 
are  together  ascribed  to  him,  and 
not  as  succeeding  one  another :  he 
is  the  same  yesterday,  to-day,  and 
for  ever,  Heb.  xiii,  8.   Rev.  i,  4. 
— 3.   If  his  duration  were  succes- 
sive, or  proceeded  by  moments, 
days,  and  years,  then  there  must 
have    been   some   first    moment, 
day,    and   year,    when  he  began 
to   exist,   which    is   incompatible 
with  the  idea  of  his  eternity  ;  and, 
besides,   one   day  would  be    but 
one  day  with    him,    and    not   a 
thousand,    contrary    to    the    ex- 
press  language    of  scripture,  2d 
Pet.   iii,  8. — 4.  He  would  not  be 
immense,  immutable,  and  perfect, 
if  this  were  the  case  ;  for  he  would 
be  older  one  minute  than  he  was 
before,  which -cannot  be  said  of 
him. — 5.    His  knowledge  proves 


ETE 


267 


EVA 


him  without  successive  duration, 
for  he  knows  all  things  past,  pre- 
sent, and  to  come :  "  he  sees 
the  present  without  a  medium,  the 
past  without  recollection,  and  the 
future  without  foresight.  To  him 
all  truths  are  but  one  idea,  all 
places  but  one  point,  and  all  times 
but  one  moment."  GiWs  Body  of 
Divinity ;  Paley''s  Nat.  Theol.^  p. 
430  ;  Charnock  on  the  Divine  Per- 
fections ;  Clarke  on  ditto  ;  Watts' s 
Ontology^  chap.  iv. 

ETERNITY  OF  THE  WORLD. 
It  was  the  opinion  of  Aristotle  and 
others  that  the  world  was  eternal. 
But  that  the  present  system  of 
things  had  a  beginning,  seems 
evident,  if  we  consider  the  follow- 
ing things.  1.  We  may  not  only 
conceive  of  many  possible  altera- 
tions which  might  be  made  in  the 
form  of  it,  but  we  see  it  incessantly 
changing;  whereas  an  eternal  be- 
ing, for  as  much  as  it  is  self-ex- 
istent, is  always  the  same. — 2.  We 
have  no  credible  history  of  trans- 
actions more  re  mote  than  six  thou- 
sand years  from  the  present  time  ; 
for  as  to  the  pretence  that  some 
nations  have  made  to  histories  of 
greater  antiquity,  as  the  Egypt- 
ians^ Chaldeans^  Phxmcians^  Chi- 
nese^ &c.  they  are  evidently  con- 
victed of  falsehood  in  the  works 
referred  to  at  the  bottom  of  this 
article. — 3.  We  can  trace  the 
invention  of  the  most  useful  arts 
and  sciences  ;  which  had  proba- 
bly been  carried  farther,  and  in- 
vented sooner,  had  the  world 
been  eternal. — 4.  The  origin  of 
the  most  considerable  nations  of 
the  earth  may  be  traced,  i.  e.  the 
time  when  they  first  inhabited  the 
countries  where  they  now  dwell; 
and  it  appears  that  most  of  the 


western  nations  came  from  the 
east. — 5.  If  the  world  be  eternal, 
it  is  hard  to  account  for  the  tra- 
dition of  its  beginning,  which  has 
almost  every  where  prevailed, 
though  under  different  forms, 
among  both  polite  and  barbarous 
nations. — 6.  We  have  a  most  an- 
cient and  credible  history  of  the 
begmning  of  the  world  ;  I  mean 
the  history  of  Moses,  with  which 
no  book  in  the  world,  in  point  of 
antiquity,  can  contend.  Stilling- 
feefs  Orig.  Sacra^  p.  15,  106; 
Winder'* s  Hist,  of  Knoxvledge,  vol. 
ii,  passim ;  Pearson  on  the  Creeds  p. 
58;  Doddridge^s  L€Ctures,lec.  24; 
Tillotson's  Sermons^  ser.  1  ;  Clarke 
at  Boyle's  Lectures^  p.  22,  23. 

lilTHICS,  the  doctrine  of  man- 
ners, or  the  science  of  moral  philo- 
sophy. The  v/ord  is  formed  from 
*)^®-,  mores,  "  manners,"  by  rea- 
son the  scope  or  object  thereof 
is    to   form   the    manners.      See 

IVIoRALS. 

ETHNOPHRONES,  asectof 

heretics  in  the  seventh  century, 
who  made  a  profession  of  Christi- 
anity, but  joined  thereto  all  the  ce- 
remonies and  follies  of  Paganism, 
as  judicial  astrology,  sortileges, 
auguries,  and  other  divinations. 

EVANGELIST,  one  who  pub- 
lishes glad  tidings  :  a  messenger, 
or  preacher  of  goods  news.  The 
persons  denominated  evangelists 
were  next  in  order  to  the  ayiostles, 
and  were  sent  by  them  not  to 
settle  in  any  particular  place, 
but  to  travel  among  the  infant 
chmxhes,  and  ordain  ordinary 
oilicers,  and  finish  what  the  apos- 
tles had  begun.  Of  this  kind  were 
Pliillp  tiie  deacon,  Mark,  Silas, 
Sec.  Acts  xxi,  8.  The  title  of 
evangelist    is    more    particularly 


EtJC 


268 


EUC 


gpven  to  the  four  inspired  writers 
of  our  Saviour's  life. 

EVANGELICAL,  agreeable 
to  the  doctrines'  of  Christianity. 
The  term  is  frequently  applied  to 
those  who  do  not  rely  upon  moral 
duties  as  to  their  acceptance  with 
God ;  but  are  influenced  to  ac- 
tion from  a  sense  of  the  love  of 
God,  and  depend  upon  the  merits 
of  Christ  for  their  everlasting  sal- 
vation. 

EUCHARIST,  the  sacrament 
of  the  Lord's  supper.  The  word 
properly  signifies  giving  thanks. 
As  to  the  manner  of  celebrating  the 
eucharist  among  the  ancient  chris- 
tians, after  the  customary  obla- 
tions were  made,  the  deacon 
brought  water  to  the  bishops  and 
presbyters  standing  round  the  ta- 
ble to  wash  their  hands  ;  accord- 
ing to  that  passage  of  the  psalmist, 
*'  I  will  wash  my  hands  in  inno- 
cency,  and  so  will  I  compass  thy 
altar,  O  Lord."  Then  the  dea- 
con cried  out  aloud,  "  Mutually 
embrace  and  kiss  each  other  j" 
which  being  done,  the  whole  con- 
gregation prayed  for  the  universal 
peace  and  welfare  of  the  church, 
for  the  tranquillity  and  repose  of 
the  world,  for  the  prosperity  of 
the  age,  for  wholesome  weather, 
and  for  all  ranks  and  degrees  of 
men.  After  this  followed  mutual 
salutations  of  the  minister  and  peo- 
ple; and  then  the  bishop  or  pres- 
byter, having  sanctified  the  ele- 
ments by  a  solemn  benediction, 
broke  the  bread,  and  delivered  it 
to  the  deacon,  who  distributed  it 
to  the  cominunicants,"  and  after 
that  the  cup.  Their  sacramental 
wine  was  usually  diluted  or  mixed 
with  water.     During  the  time  of 


administration  they  sang  hymns 
and  psalms ;  and  having  concluded 
with  prayer  and  thanksgiving,  the 
people  saluted  each  other  with  a 
kiss  of  peace,  and  so  the  assembly 
broke  up. 

EUCHITES,  or  Euchit^,  a 
sect  of  ancient  heretics,  who  were 
first  formed  into  a  religious  body 
towards  the  end  of  the  fourth  cen- 
tury, though  their  doctrine  and 
discipline  subsisted  in  Syria,Egypt, 
and  other  eastern  countries,  before 
the  birth  of  Christ :  they  were 
thus  called,  because  they  prayed 
without  ceasing,  imagining  that 
prayer  alone  was  sufficient  to  save 
them.  They  were  a  sort  of  mystics, 
who  imagined,  according  to  the 
oriental  notion,  that  two  souls  re- 
sided in  man,  the  one  good,  and 
the  other  «evil ;  and  vv'ho  were  zea- 
lous in  expelling  the  evil  soul  or 
demon,  and  hastening  the  return 
of  the  good  spirit  of  God  by  con- 
templation, prayeV,  and  singing 
of  hymns.  They  also  embraced 
opinions  neai-ly  resembling  the 
Manichean  doctrine,  and  which 
they  derived  from  the  tenets-  of 
the  oriental  philosophy.  The  same 
denomination  was  used  in  the 
twelfth  century  to  denote  certain 
fanatics  who  infested  the  Greek 
and  eastern  churches,  and  who 
were  charged  with  believing  a 
double  trinity,  rejecting  wedlock, 
abstaining  from  flesh,  treating  with 
contempt  the  sacraments  of  bap- 
tism and  the  Lord's  supper,  and 
the  various  branches  of  external 
worship,  and  placing  the  essence 
of  religion  solely  in  external  pray- 
er; and  maintaining  the  efficacy  of 
perpetual  supplications  to  the 
Supreme  JBeing  for  expelling  an 


E  VI 


269 


EVI 


evil  being  or  genius,  which  dwelt 
in  the  breast  of  every  mortal.  This 
sect  is  said  to  have  been  founded 
by  a  person  called  Lucopetrus^ 
whose  chief  disciple  was  named 
Tychicus,  By  degrees  it  became 
a  general  and  invidious  appella- 
tion for  persons  of  eminent  piety 
and  zeal  for  genuine  Christianity, 
who  opposed  the  vicious  practices 
and  insolent  tyranny  of  the  priest- 
hood, much  in  the  same  manner 
as  the  Latins  comprehended  all  the 
adversaries  of  the  Roman  pontiff 
under  the  general  terms  of  Albi- 
genses  and  Waldenses. 

EUDOXIANS,  a  sect  in  the 
fourth  century ;  so  called  from 
their  leader  Eudoxius,  patriarch  of 
Antioch  and  Constantinople,  a 
great  defender  of  the  Arian  doc- 
trine. The  Eudoxiansbelieved  that 
the  Son  was  created  out  of  no- 
thing ;  that  he  had  a  will  distinct 
and  different  from  that  of  the  Fa- 
ther, &c.  They  held  many  otherte- 
nets  of  the  Arians  andEunomians. 

EVIDENCE  is  that  perception 
of  truth  which  arises  either  from 
the  testimony  of  the  senses,  or 
from  an  induction  of  reason.  The 
evidences  of  revelation  are  divided 
into  internal  and  external.  That 
is  called  internal  evidence  which 
is  drawn  from  the  consideration 
of  those  declarations  and  doctrines 
which  are  contained  in  it ;  and 
that  is  called  external^  which  arises 
from  some  other  circumstances  re- 
ferring to  it,  such  as  predictions 
concerning  it,  miracles  wrought 
by  those  who  teach  it,  its  success 
in.  the  Avorld,  Jkc.  See  £vidmces 
of  Christ.^  art.  Christianity. 

Moral  evidence  is  that  v.'hich, 
though  it  does  not  exclude  a  mere 


abstract  possibility  of  things  being 
otherwise,  yet  shuts  out  every 
reasonable  ground  of  suspecting' 
that  they  are  so. 

Evidences  of  Grace  are  those  dis-' 
positions  and  acts  Avhich  prove  a 
person  to  be  in  a  converted  state  ; 
such  as  an  enlightened  under-" 
standing ;  love  to  God  and  his 
people  ;  a  delight  in  God's  word  ; 
worship  of  and  dependance  cft 
him;  spirituality  of  mind;  devot- 
ednessof  life  to  the  service  of  God^ 
&c.  Seed'^s  Post.  Ser.^  ser.  2  ; 
Ditton  on  the  Resurrection ;  Bel- 
lamy on  Religion^  p.  1 84. 

EVIL  is  distinguished  into  na- 
tural and  moral.  Natural  evil  is 
whatever  destroys  or  any  ways 
disturb  the  perfection  of  natural 
beings ;  such  as  blindness,diseases, 
death,  &c.  Moral  evil  is  the  disa- 
greement between  the  actions  of  a 
moral  agent,  and  the  rule  of  those 
actions,  whatever  it  is.  Applied  to 
a  choice,  or  acting  contrary  to  the 
moral  or  revealed  laws  of  the 
Deity,  it  is  termed  wickedness  or 
sin.  Applied  to  acting  contrary 
to  the  mere  rule  of  fitness,  o. fault. 
See  article  Sin. 

EVIL  SPEAKING,  the  using 
langhage  either  reproachful  or  unr 
true  respecting  others,  and  thereby 
injuring  them.  It  is  an  express 
command  of  scripture,  ''  To  speak 
evil  of  no  man,"  Titus  iii,  2. 
James  iv,  1 1.  By  which,  however, 
we  are  not  to  understand  that 
there  are  no  occasions  on  which 
^ye  are  at  liberty  to  speak  of  others 
that  which  may  be  considered  as 
evil.  1.  Persons  in  the  adminis- 
tration of  justice  may  speak  words 
which  in  private  intercourse  would 
be  reproachful. — 2.  God's  minis- 


E  VI 


270 


EUL 


ters  may  Inveigh  against  vice  with 
sharpness  and  seventy,  both  pri- 
vately and  pubhcly,  Is.  Iviii,  1. 
Tit.  i,  13. — 3.  Private  persons 
may  reprove  others  when  they 
commit  sin,  Lev.  xix,  17. — 4. 
Some  vehemency  of  speech  may 
be  used  in  defence  of  truth,  and 
impugning  errors  of  bad  conse- 
quence, Jude  3. — 5.  It  may  be  ne- 
cessary, upon  some  emergent  oc- 
casions, with  some  heat  of  lan- 
guage to  express  disapprobation 
of  notorious  vfickedness,  Acts  viii, 
23.  Yet  in  all  these  the  greatest 
equity,  moderation,  and  candour, 
should  be  used  ;  and  we  should 
take  care,  1.  Never  to  speak  in 
severe  terms  without  reasonable 
warrant  or  apparent  just  cause  ; — 
2.  Nor  beyond  measure  ; — 3.  Nor 
out  of  bad  principles  or  wrong 
'ends  ;  from  ill  will,  contempt,  re- 
venge, envy,  to  compass  our  own 
ends  ;  from  wantonness  or  negli- 
gence, but  from  pure  charity  for 
the  good  of  those  to  whom  or  of 
whom  we  speak. 

This  is  an  evil,  however,  which 
greatly  abounds,  and  which  is  not 
sufficiently  watched  against ;  for 
it  is  not  v/hen  we  openly  speak 
evil  of  others  only  that  we  are 
guilty,  but  even  in  speaking  what 
is  true  we  are  in  danger  of  speak- 
ing evil  of  others.  There  is  some- 
times a  malignant  pleasure  mani- 
fested ;  a  studious  recollection  of 
every  thing  that  can  be  brought 
forward ;  a  delight  in  hearing  any 
thing  spoken  against  others ;  a 
secret  rejoicing  in  knov/ing  that 
another's  fall  will  be  an  occasion  of 
our  rise.  All  this  is  base  to  an 
extreme. 

The  improprtety  and  sinfulness  \ 


of  evil  speaking  will  appear,  if  we 
consider,  1.  That  it  is  entirely 
opposite  to  the  whole  tenour  of  the 
christian  rehgion. — 2.  Expressly 
condemned  and  prohibited  as  evil, 
Ps.  Ixiv,  3.  James  iv,  11. — 3.  No 
practice  hath  more  severe  punish- 
ments  denounced  against  it,    1st 

Cor.  v,  1 1, 1  St  Cor.  vi,  10 4.  It  is 

an  evidence  of  a  weak  and  distem- 
pered mind. — 5.  It  is  even  indica- 
tive of  ill  breeding  and  bad  man- 
ners.— 6.  It  is  the  abhorrence  of  all 
wise  and  good  men,  Ps.  xv,  3. — 7. 
It  is  exceedingly  injurious  tosocie- 
t}',  and  inconsistent  with  the  rela- 
tion we  bear  to  each  other  as  chris- 
tians, James  iii,  6. — 8.  It  is  brand- 
ed with  the  epithet  of  folly,  Prov. 
xviii,  6,  7. — 9.  It  is  perverting  the 
design  of  speech. — 10.  Tt  is  op- 
posite to  the  example  of  Christ 
whom  we  profess  to  follow.  See 
Slander  ;  Barroxv^s  Works^  vol. 
i,  ser.  16 ;  Tillotson^s  Ser.^  ser.  42  j 
'Jacks\-  Ser.  on  Evil  Speaking. 

EULOGY, (?^^/o^^a,  atermmade 
use  of  in  reference  to  the  conse- 
crated bread.  When  the  Greeks 
have  cut  a  loaf  or  piece  of  bread 
to  consecrate  it,  they  break  the 
rest  into  little  bits,  and  distribute 
it  among  the  persons  who  have 
not  yet  communicated,  or  send  it 
to  persons  that  are  absent :  and 
these  pieces  of  bread  are  what^they 
call  eulogies.  The  word  is  Greek, 
tvXoyix,  formed  of  s-j,  bene,  "  well," 
and  Asyi.',  dico,  "  I  say,  speak  ;" 
q.  d.  benedictum,  "  blessed." 

The  Latin  church  has  had  some- 
thing like  eulogies  for  a  great  many 
ages  ;  and  thence  arose  the  use  of 
their  holy  bread.  The  name  eu- 
logy v/as  likewise  given  to  loaves 
or   cakes   brought   to   church   by 


EUN 


271 


EUS 


the  faithful  to  have  them  blessed. 
Lastly,  the  use  of  the  term  pass- 
ed hence  to  mere  presents  made 
to  a  person  without  any  benedic- 
tion. 

EUNOMIANS,  a  sect  in  the 
fourth  century.  They  were  a  branch 
of  Arians,  and  took  their  name 
from  Eunomius,  bishop  of  Cyzicus. 
Cave,  inhisHistoriaLiteraria,vol. 
i,  p.  223,  gives  the  following  ac- 
count of  their  faith.  "  There 
is  one  God,  uncreated  and  with- 
out beginning  ;  who  has  nothing 
existing  before  him,  for  nothing 
can  exist  before  what  is  uncreated ; 
nor  ^ith  him,  for  what  is  uncre- 
ated must  be  one  ;  nor  in  him,  for 
God  is  a  simple  and  uncom- 
pounded  being.  This  one  simple 
and  eternal  being  is  God,  the  cre- 
ator and  ordainer  of  all  things ; 
first,  indeed,  and  principally  of  his 
only  begotten  Son  ;  and  then 
through  him  of  all  other  things. 
For  God  begot,  created,  and  made 
the  Son  only  by  his  direct  opera- 
tion and  power,  before  all  things, 
and  every  other  creature  ;  not 
producing,  however,  any  being 
like  himself,  or  imparting  any  of 
his  own  proper  substance  to  the 
Son :  for  God  is  immortal,  uni- 
form, indivisible  ;  and  therefore 
cannot  communicate  any  part  of 
his  own  proper  substance  to  an- 
other. He  alone  is  unbegotton  ; 
and  it  is  impossible  that  any  other 
being  should  be  formed  of  an  un- 
begotten  substance.  He  did  not 
use  his  own  substance  in  begetting 
the  Son,  but  his  will  only ;  nor 
did  he  beget  him  in  the  likeness 
of  his  substance,  but  according  to 
his  own  good  pleasure:  he  then 
created  the  Holy  Spirit,  the  first 


and  greatest  of  all' spirits,  by  his 
own  power,  in  deed  and  opera- 
tion mediateh'- ;  yet  by  the  im-?  ' 
mediate  power  and  operation  of 
the  Son.  After  the  Holy  Spirit, 
he  created  all  other  things,  in 
heaven  and  in  earth,  visible  and  in- 
visible, corpoi-eal  and  incorporeal, 
mediately  by  himself,  by  the  power 
and  operation  of  the  Son,  &c." 
The  reader  will  evidently  see  how 
near  these  tenets  are  to  those  of 
Arianism.     See  Arians. 

EUSEBIANS,  a  denomination 
given  to  the  Arians,  on  account  of 
the  favour  and  countenance  which 
Eusebius,  bishop  of  C^esarea, 
shewed  and  procured  for  them  at 
their  first  rise. 

EUSTATHIANS,  a  name 
given  to  the  Catholics  of  Antioch, 
in  the  fourth  centurj',  on  occasion  i 
of  their  refusing  to  acknowledge 
any  other  bishop  beside  St.  Eusta- 
thius,  deposed  by  the  Arians. 

EUSTATHIANS,  a  sect  in 
the  fourth  century  ;  so  denominat- 
ed from  their  founder,  Eustathius, 
a  monk  so  foolishly  fond  of  his 
own  profession,  that  he  condemn- 
ed all  other  conditions  of  life. 
Whether  this  Eustathius  were  the 
same  with  the  bishop  of  Sebastia, 
and  chief  of  the  Semi-arians,  is  not 
easy  to  determine.  He  excluded 
married  people  from  salvation ; 
prohibited  his  followers  from  pray- 
ing in  their  houses,  and  obliged 
them  to  quit  all  they  had,  as  in- 
compatible with  the  hopes  of 
heaven.  He  drew  them  out  of  the 
other  assemblies  of  christians,  to 
hold  secret  ones  with  him,  and 
made  them  wear  a  particular  habit  : 
he  appointed  them  to  fast  on  Sun- 
days}  and  taught  them  that  the 


E  U  T 


272 


EX  A 


ordinary  fasts  of  the  church  were 
needless  after  they  had  attained 
to  a  certain  degree  of  purity  which 
he  pretended  to.  He  shewed  great 
horror  for  chapels  built  in  honour 
of  martyrs,  and  the  assemblies 
held  therein.  He  was  condemned 
at  the  council  of  Gangra,  in  Pa- 
phlagonia,  held  between  the  years 
326  and  341. 

EUTUCHiTES,  a  denomina- 
tion in  the  third  century ;  so  called 
irom  the  Greek  s-jtv^hv^  which 
signifies  to  live  without  pain,  or 
in  pleasure.  Among  other  senti- 
ments, they  held  that  our  souls  are 
piaeed  in  our  bodies  only  to  ho- 
nour the  angels  who  created  them  ; 
snd  that  we  ought  to  rejoice 
^:q.U9lly'  in  all  events,  because  to 
gi-ieve  would  be  to  dishonour  the 
angels,  their  creators. 

EUXy  CHIANS,  ancient  here- 
ties  J  who  denied  the  duplicity  of  na- 
tures, in  Christ ;  thus  denominated 
fifom_  Eutyches,  the  archimandrite, 
or-  abbot  of  a  monastery,  at  Con- 
afe^ntinople,,  who  began  to  propa- 
gaite  his  opinion  a,bout  A.  D.  448. 
He  diid  not,  however,,  seem  quite 
steady  and  consistent  in  his  senti- 
®!ents;i  for  he  appeared  to  allow 
of  two  natures^,  even  before  the 
union,  which  was  apparently  a 
consequence  he  drew  from  the 
principles  of  the  Platonic  philoso- 
phy, wHch  supposes  a  pre-exist- 
ence  of  souls :  accordingly  he  be- 
lieved that  the  soul  of  Jiesus  Christ 
had  been  united  to  the  Divinity 
before  the  incarnation ;  but  then 
he  allowed  no  distinction  of  na- 
tures in  Jesus  Christ  since  his  in- 
carnation. This  heresy  was  first 
condemned,  in  a  synod  held  at 
Constantinople,  by  Flavian,in  448  j. 


approved  by  the  council  of  Ephe- 
sus,  called  conventus  latronum^  in 
449 ;  and  re-examined  and  ful- 
minated in  the  general  council  of 
Chalcedon,  in  451.  The  Euty- 
chians  were  divided  into  several 
branches,  as  the  Agnoetts^  Theo- 
dosiansy  Severia7is^  &c.  &c.  &c. 
Eutychians  Avas  also  the  name  of 
a  sect,  half  Arian  and  half  Euno- 
mian,  which  arose  at  Constanti- 
nople in  the  fourth  century. 
EXALTATION  OF  CHRIST. 
See  Ascension. 

EXAMINATION  Self.  See 
Self-Ex  AMiNATioN. 

EXAMPLE,  a  copy  or  pattern. 
In  a  moral  sense,  is  either  taken 
for  a  type,  instance,  or  precedent 
for  our  admonition,  that  we  may 
be  cautioned  against  the  faults  or 
crimes  which  others  have  com- 
mitted, by  the  bad  consequences 
which  have  ensued  from  them; 
or  exantple  is  taken  for  a  pattern 
for  our  imitatioii,  or  a  model  for 
us  to  copy  after. 

That  good  examples  have  a  pe- 
culiar power  above  naked  precepts 
to  dispose  us  to  the  practice  of  vir- 
tue and  holiness,  mav  appear  by 
considering,  "  1.  That  they  most 
clearly  express  to  us  the  nature 
of  our  duties  in  their  subjects  and 
sensible  effects.  General  precepts 
form,  abstract  ideas  of  virtue ; 
but  in  examples,  virtues  are  most 
visible  in  all  their  circumstances. 
— 2.  Precepts  instruct  us  in  what 
things  are  our  dut)^,  but  exam- 
ples assure  us  that  they  are  pos- 
sible.— 3.  Examples,  by  secret  and 
lively  incentive,  urge  us  to  imita- 
tion. We  are  touched  in  another 
manner  by  the  visible  practice 
of  good  men,  which  reproaches 


E  X  A 


273 


EXC 


our  defects,  and  obliges  us  to  the 
same  zeal,  which  laws^  though 
wise  and  good,  will  not  effect." 

The  life  of  Jesus  Christ  forms 
the  most  beautiful  example  the 
christian  can  imitate.  Unlike 
all  others,  it  was  absolutely  per- 
fect and  uniform,  and  every  way 
accommodated  to  our  present 
state.  In  him  we  behold  all  light 
without  a  shade,  all  beauty  with- 
out a  spot,  all  the  purity  of  the 
law,  and  the  excellency  of  the 
gospel.  Here  we  see  piety  with- 
out superstition,  and  morality  with- 
out ostentation  ;  humility  without 
meanness,  and  fortitude  without 
temerity ;  patience  without  apa- 
thy, and  compassion  without  weak- 
ness ;  zeal  without  rashness,  and 
beneficence  without  ostentation. 
The  obligation  we  are  under  to 
imitate  this  example  arises  from 
duty,  relationship,  engagement, 
interest,  and  gratitude.  See  ar- 
ticle Jesus  Christ. 

Those  who  set  had  examples 
should  consider,  1.  That  they  are 
the  ministers  of  the  devil's  designs 
to  destroy  souls. — 2.  That  they 
are  acting  in  direct  opposition  to 
Christ,  who  came  to  save,  and  not 
to  destroy. — 3.  That  they  are  add- 
ing to  the  misery  and  calamities 
which  are  already  in  the  world. — 
4.  That  the  effects  of  their  exam- 
ple may  be  incalculable  on  so- 
ciety to  the  end  of  time,  and  per- 
haps in  eternity  ;  for  who  can  tell 
what  may  be  the  consequence  of 
one  sin,  on  a  family,  a  nation,  or 
posterity  ? — -5.  They  are  acting  con- 
trary to  the  divine  command,  and 
thus  exposing  themselves  to  final 
ruin.  Massilons  Ser,^  vol.  ii,  ser. 
0,  Eng.  Tran. ;   C/arke^s  Lookhi^ 

You  I,  N  n 


Glass ^  ch.  48;  Tillctsori^s  Ser.,  ser* 
189,  190,  191  ;  Barroxv's  Works ^ 
vol.  iii,  ser.  2  and  3  :  FlavePs 
Works,  vol.  i,  p.  29,  30. 

EXARCH,  an  officer  in  the 
Greek  church,  whose  business  it  is 
to  visit  the  provinces  allotted  to 
him,  in  order  to  inform  himself  of 
the  lives  and  manners  of  the  cler- 
gy ;  take  cognizance  of  ecclesiasti- 
cal causes  ;  the  manner  of  celebra- 
ting divine  service ;  the  administra- 
tion of  the  sacraments,  particularly 
confession  ;  the  observance  of  the 
canons  ;  monastic  discipline  ;  af- 
fairs of  marriages,  divorces,  &c. ; 
but,  above  all,  to  take  an  account 
of  the  several  revenues  which  the 
patriarch  receives  from  several 
churches,  and  particularly  as  to 
what  regards  collecting  the  same. 
The  exarch,  after  having  enrich- 
ed himself  in  his  post,  frequently 
rises  to  the  patriarchate  himself. 
Exarch  is  also  used,  in  the  Eastern 
church  antiquity,  for  a  general  or 
superior  over  several  monasteries, 
the  same  that  we  call  archiman-. 
drite  ;  being  exempted  by  the 
patriarch  of  Constantinople  from 
the  jurisdiction  of  the  bishop. 

EXCISION,  the  cutting  off  a 
person  from  fellowship  with  the 
community  to  which  he  belongs, 
by  way  of  punishment  for  some  sin 
committed.  The  Jews,  Sclden  in- 
forms us,  reckon  up  thirty-six 
crimes,  to  which  they  pretend  this 
punishment  is  due.  The  rabbins 
reckon  three  kinds  of  excision  ; 
one,  which  destroys  only  the  body  ; 
another,  which  destroys  the  soul 
onlv ;  and  a  third,  which  destroys 
both  body  and  soul.  The  first 
kind  of  excision  they  pretend  is 
untimelv  death  ;  the  second  is  sn 


EXC 


274 


EXC 


utter  extinction  of  the  soul ;  and 
the  third  a  compound  of  the  two 
former :  thus  making  the  soul 
mortal  or  immortal,  says  Selden, 
according  to  the  degree  of  mis- 
behaviour and  wickedness  of  the 
people.     See  next  article. 

EXCOMMUNICATION,  a| 
penalty,  or  censure,  whereby  per- 
sons who  are  guilty  of  any  no- 
torious crime  or  offence  are  se- 
parated from  the  communion  of 
the  church,  and  deprived  of  all 
spiritual  advantages. 

Excommunication  is  founded 
upon  a  natural  right  which  all 
societies  have  of  excluding  out 
of  their  body  such  as  violate 
the  laws  thereof,  and  it  was  ori- 
ginally instituted  forpreservingthe 
purity  of  the  church ;  but  am- 
bitious ecclesiastics  converted  it 
by  degrees  into  an  engine  for  pro- 
moting their  own  power,  and  in- 
flicted it'  on  the  most  frivolous 
occasions. 

In  the  ancient  church  the  power 
of  excommunication  was  lodged 
in  the  hands  of  the  clerg}",  who 
distinguished  it  into  the  greater 
and  less.  The  less  consisted  in 
excluding  persons  from  the  parti- 
cipation of  the  eucharist,  and  the 
prayers  of  the  faithful ;  but  they 
were  not  expelled  the  church. 
The  greater  excommunication  con- 
sisted in  absolute  and  entire  se- 
clusion from  the  church,  and  the 
participation  of  all  its  rights  ;  no- 
tice of  which  was  given  by  circu- 
lar letters  to  the  most  eminent 
churches  ail  over  the  world,  that 
they  might  all  confirm  'this  act  of 
discipline,  by  refusing  to  admit  the 
delinquent  to  their  communion. 
The  consequences  were  very  ter- 


rible. The  person  so  excommuni- 
cated was  avoided  in  ail  civil  com- 
merce and  outward  conversation. 
No  one  was  to  receive  him  into 
his  house,  nor  eat  at  the  same 
table  with  him  ;  and,  when  dead, 
he  was  denied  the  solemn  rites  of 
burial. 

The  Jev/s  expelled  from  their 
synagogue  such  as  had  committed 
any  grievous  crime.  See  John  ix, 
22.  John  xii,  42.  John  xvi,  2.  and 
Joseph.  Antiq.  Jud.  lib.  9,  cap. 
22.  and  lib.  16,  cap.  2.  God- 
wyn,  in  his  JMoses  and  Aaron, 
distinguishes  three  degrees  or 
kinds  of  excommimication  among 
the  Jews.  The  first  he  finds  inti- 
mated in  John  ix,  22.  the  second 
in  1st  Cor.  v,  5.  and  the  third  in 
1st  Cor.  xvi,  22. 

The  Romish  pontifical  takes  no- 
tice of  three  kinds  of  excommu- 
nication. 1.  The  minor,  incurred 
by  those  who  have  any  correspond- 
ence with  an  excommunicated 
person. — 2.  The  major,  which  falls 
upon  those  who  disobey  the  com- 
mands of  the  holy  see,  or  refuse 
to  submit  to  certain  points  of  dis- 
cipline ;  in  consequence  of  which 
they  are  excluded  from  the 
church  militant  and  triumphant, 
and  delivered  over  to  the  devil 
and  his  angels. — 3.  Anathema, 
which  is  properly  that  pronounc- 
ed by  the  pope  against  heretical 
princes  and  countries.  In  for- 
mer ages,  these  papal  fulminations 
were  most  terrible  things ;  but 
latterly  they  were  formidable  to 
none  but  a  few  petty  states  of 
Italy. 

Excommunication  in  the  Greek 
church  cuts  off  the  offender  from 
all  communion  with  the  three  bun- 


EXC 


275 


EXC 


dred  and  eighteen  fathers  of  the 
first  council  of  Nice,  and  with  the 
saints  ;  consigns  him  over  to  the 
devil  and  the  traitor  Judas,  and 
condemns  his  body  to  remain  after 
death  as  hard  as  a  flint  or  piece 
of  steel,  unless  he  humble  himself, 
and  make  atonement  for  his  sins 
by  a  sincere  repentance.  The  form 
abounds  with  dreadful  impreca- 
tions ;  and  the  Greeks  assert,  that, 
if  a  person  dies  excommunicated, 
the  devil  enters  into  the  lifeless 
corpse  ;  and,  therefore,  in  order  to 
prevent  it,  the  relations  of  the  de- 
ceased cut  his  body  in  pieces,  and 
boil  them  in  wine.  It  is  a  custom 
for  the  patriarch  of  Jerusalem  an- 
nually to  excommunicate  the  pope 
and  the  church  of  Rome ;  on 
which  occasion,  together  with  a 
great  deal  of  idle  ceremony,  he 
drives  a  nail  into  the  ground  with 
a  hammer,  as  a  mark  of  maledic- 
tion. 

The  form  of  excomm^inication 
in  the  church  of  England  ancient- 
ly ran  thus  :  "  By  the  authority 
of  God  the  Father  Almighty,  the 
Son,  and  Holy  Ghost,  and  of  Mary 
the  blessed  mother  of  God,  we  ex- 
communicate, anathematize,  and 
sequester  from  the  holy  mother 
church,"  &c.  The  causes  of  ex- 
communication in  England  are, 
contempt  of  the  bishops'  court, 
heresy,  neglect  of  public  worship 
and  the  sacraments,  incontinency, 
adultery,  simony,  &c.  It  is  de- 
scribed to  be  twofold  ;  the  less  is 
an  ecclesiastical  censure,  exclud- 
ing the  party  from  the  participa- 
tion of  the  sacrament :  the  greater 
proceeds  farther,  and  excludes 
him  not  only  from  these,  but  from 
the    company  of    all   christians  j 


but  if  the  judge  of  any  spiritual 
court  excommunicates  a  man  for 
a  cause  of  which  he  hath  not  the 
legal  cognizance,  the  party  may 
have  an  action  against  him  at  com- 
mon law,  and  he  is  also  liable  to 
be  indicted  at  the  suit  of  the  king. 
Excommunication  in  the  church 
of  Scotland  consists  only  in  an 
exclusion  of  openly  profane  and 
immoral  persons  from  baptism 
and  the  Lord's  supper ;  but  is 
seldom  publicly  denounced,  as, 
indeed,  such  persons  generally  ex- 
clude themselves  from  the  latter 
ordinance  at  least ;  but  it  is  at- 
tended with  no  civil  incapacity 
whatever. 

Among  the  Independents  and 
Baptists,  the  persons  who  are  or 
j  should  be  excommunicated,  are 
such  as  are  quarrelsome  ainHitigi- 
ous.  Gal.  v,  12.  such  as  desert  their 
privileges,  withdraw  themselves 
from  the  ordinances  of  God,  and 
forsake  his  people,  Jude  19;  such 
as  are  irregular  and  immoral  in 
their  lives,  railers,  drunkards,  ex- 
tortioners, fornicators,  and  co- 
vetous, Eph.  v,  5.  1st  Cor.  V,  11, 
*'  The  exclusion  of  a  person  from 
any  christian  church  does  not  af- 
fect his  temporal  estate  and  civil 
affairs  ;  it  does  not  subject  him  to 
fines  or  imprisonments  ;  it  inter- 
feres not  with  the  business  of  a 
civil  magistrate ;  it  makes  no 
change  in  the  natural  and  civil 
relations  between  husbands  and 
wives,  parents  and  children,  mas- 
ters and  servants  ;  neither  does  it 
deprive  a  man  of  the  liberty  of 
attending  public  worship  ;  it  re- 
moves him,  however,  from  the 
communion  of  the  church,  and 
the  privileges   dependent  on   it : 


KXH 


EX  H 


this  is  done  that  he  may  be  asham- 
ed of  his  sin,  and  be  brought  to 
repentance,  that  the  honour  of 
Christ  mavbe  vindicated,  and  that 
stumbling  blocks  may  be  removed 
out  of  the  wa}'." 

Though  the  act  of  exclusion  be 
not  performed  exactly  in  the  same 
manner  in  every  church,  yet  the 
power  of  excision  lies  in  the 
church  itself.  The  officers  take 
the  sense  of  the  members  assem- 
Bled  together  ;  and  after  the  mat- 
ter has  been  properly  investigated, 
and  all  necessary  steps  taken  to  re- 
claim the  offender,  the  church 
proceeds  to  the  actual  exclusion  of 
the  person  from  among  them,  by 
signifying  their  judgment  or  opi- 
nion that  the  person  is  unv.-orthy 
of  a  place  in  God's  house.  In  the 
conclusion  of  this  article,  however, 
we  must  add,  that  too  great  cau- 
tion cannot  be  observed  in  proce- 
dures of  this  kind  ;  every  thing 
should  be  done  v/ith  the  greatest 
meekness,  deliberation,  prayer, 
and  a  deep  sense  of  our  own  un- 
Vv'orthiness;  with  a  compassion  for 
the  offender,  and  a  fixed  design  of 
embracing  every  opportunity  of 
doing  him  good,  by  reproving,  in- 
structing, and,  if  possible,  restoring 
him  to  the  enjoyment  of  the  pri- 
vileges he  has  forfeited  by  his  con- 
duct.    See  Church. 

EXCUSATi,  a  term  formerly 
used  to  denote  slaves,  who,  flying 
to  any  church  for  sanctuary,  were 
excused  and  pardoned  by  their 
masters. 

EXHORTATION,  the  act  of 
laying  such  motives  before  a  person 
as  may  excite  him  to  the  perform- 
ance of  any  duty.  It  differs  only 
from    suasion    in    that    the  latter 


principally  endeavours  to  con- 
vince the  understanding,  and  the 
former  to  work  on  the  affections. 
It  is  considered  as  a  great  branch 
of  preaching,  though  not  confined 
to  that,  as  a  man  may  exhort, 
though  he  do  not  preach  ;  tliough 
a  man  can  hardly  be  said  to  preach 
if  he  do  not  exhort.  It  seems, 
however, that  there  are  some,  who, 
believing  the  inability  of  man  to 
do  any  thing  good,  cannot  recon- 
cile the  idea  of  exhorting"  men  to 
duty,  being,  as  they  suppose,  a  con- 
tradiction to  address  men  who 
have  no  power  to  act  of  them- 
selves. But  they  forget,  1.  That 
the  Great  Author  of  our  being 
has  appointed  this  as  a  mean  for 
inclining  the  will  to  himself,  Is.  Iv. 
6,  7.  Luke  xiv,  17,  23.-— 2.  That 
they  Vi'ho  thus  address  do  not  sup- 
pose that  there  is  any  virtue  in 
the  exhortation  itself,  but  that  its 
energy  depends  on  God  alone,  1st 
Cor.  XV,  10. — 3.  That  the  scrip- 
ture enjoins  ministers  to  exhort 
m.en,  that  is,  to  rouse  them  to  duty, 
by  proposing  suitable  motives,  Is. 
Iviii,  1.  1st  Tim.  vi,  2.  Heb,  iii, 
13.  Rom.  xii,  8. — 4.  That  it  was 
the  constant  practice  of  prophets, 
apostles,  and  Christ  himself,  Is.  i, 
If.  Jer.  iv,  14.  Ezek.  xxxvii. 
Luke  xiii,  3.  Luke  iii,  18.  Acts  xi, 
23.  "  The  express  words,"  says 
a  good  divine,  "  of  scriptural  invi- 
tations, exhortations,  and  promises, 
prove  more  effectual  to  encourage 
those  v/ho  are  ready  to  give  up 
their  hopes,  than  all  the  consola- 
tory topics  that  can  possibly  be 
substituted  in  their  place.  It  is, 
therefore,  much  to  be  lamented 
that  pious  men,  by  adhering  to  a 
supposed  systematical  exactness  of 


EXI 


277 


EXI 


expression  should  clog  their  ad- 
dresses to  sinners  with  exceptions 
and  limitations,  which  the  Spirit 
of  God  did  not  see  good  to  insert. 
They  will  not  say  that  the  omission 
Avas  an  oversight  in  the  inspired 
Avriters  ;  or  admit  the  thought  for 
a  moment,  that  they  can  improve 
on  their  plan :  why  then  cannot 
they  be  satisfied  to  *  speak  accord- 
ing to  the  oracles  of  God,'  with- 
out affecting  a  more  entire  consist- 
ency ?  Great  mischief  has  thus 
been  done  by  verv  different  de- 
scriptions of  m^en,  who  undesign- 
edly concur  in  giving  Satan  an 
occasion  of  suggesting  to  the 
trembling  enquirer  that  perhaps 
he  may  persevere  in  asking,  seek- 
ing, and  knocking,  with  the  great- 
est earnestness  and  importunity, 
and  yet  finally  be  a  cast-away." 

EXISTENCE  OF  GOD.  The 
methods  usually  followed  in  prov- 
ing the  existence  of  God  are  two  ; 
the  first  called  argumentum  a  pri- 
ori^ which  beginning  with  the 
cause  descends  to  the  effect ;  the 
other  argumtntum  a  posteriori^ 
which,  from  a  consideration  of  the 
eflect,  ascends  to  the  cause.  The 
former  of  these  hath  been  particu- 
larly laboured  by  Dr.  Sam.  Clarke; 
but  after  all  he  has  said,  the  pos- 
sibility of  any  one's  being  con- 
vinced by  it  hath  been  questioned. 
The  most  general  proofs  are  the 
following:  "  1.  All  nations.  Hea- 
thens, Jews,  Mahometans,  and 
Christians,  harmoniously  consent 
that  there  is  a  God  who  created, 
preserves,  and  governs  all  things. 
To  this  it  has  been  objected,  that 
there  has  been,  at  different  times 
and  countries,  men  who  were 
atheists,  and  deniers  of  a  God. 


But  these  have  been  so  few,  and 
by  their  opinions  have  shewn  that 
they  rather  denied  the  particular 
providence  than  the  existence  of 
God,  that  it  can  hardly  be  said 
to  be  an  exception  to  the  argu- 
ment stated.  And  even  if  men 
were  bold  enough  to  assert  it,  it 
v/ould  be  no  absolute  proof  that 
they  really  believed  what  they 
said,  since  it  might  proceed  from 
a  -wish  that  there  were  no  God  to 
whom  they  must  be  accountable 
for  their  sin,  rather  than  a  belief 
of  it,  Ps.  xiv,  1.  It  has  also  been 
objected,  that  whole  nations  have 
been  found  in  Africa  and  America 
who  have  no  notion  of  a  Deity: 
but  this  is  what  has  never  been 
proved  ;  on  the  contrary,  upon 
accurate  inspection,  even  the  niost 
stupid  Hottentots,  Saldanians, 
Greenlanders,  Kamtschatkans,and 
savage  Americans,  are  found  to 
have  some  idea  of  a  God. 

"  2.  It  is  argued  from  the  law 
and  light  of  Nature,  or  from  the 
general  impression  of  Deity  on  the 
mind  of  every  man,  i.  e.  an  in- 
distinct idea  of  a  Being  oi  injinite 
perfection^  and  a  readiness  to  ac- 
quiesce in  the  truth  of  his  exist- 
ence, v/henever  they  understand 
the  terms  in  which  it  is  expressed. 
Whence  could  this  proceed,  even 
in  the  minds  of  such  whose  affec- 
tions and  carnal  interests  dispose 
them  to  believe  the  contrary,  if 
there  were  no  impression  naturally 
in  their  hearts  ?  It  has  been  ob- 
served by  some  writers,  that  there 
are  no  innate  ideas  in  the  minds 
of  men,  and  particularly  con- 
cerning God ;  but  this  is  not  so 
easily  proved,  since  an  inspired 
apostle  assures  us  that  even  the 


EX  I 


^/, 


EXI 


Gentiles,  destitute  of  the  law  of 
Moses,  have  the  '  work  of  the 
law  written  in  their  hearts,'  Rom. 
ii,  15. 

"  3.  The  works  of  creation  plain- 
ly demonstrate  the  existence  of  a 
liod.  The  innumerable^  altera- 
tions and  manifest  dependance, 
ever}'-  where  observable  in  the 
world,  prove  that  the  things 
v^-hich  exist  in  it  neither  are  nor 
could  be  from  eternity.  It  is  self- 
evident  that  they  never  could  form 
themselves  out  of  nothing,  or  in 
any  of  their  respective  forms  ;  and 
that  chance^  being  nothing  but  the 
want  of  design,  never  did  nor 
could  form  or  put  into  order  any 
thing  ;  far  less  such  a  mai'vellous 
and  well  connected  S3'stem  as  our 
world  is.  Though  we  should  ab- 
surdly fancy  matter  to  be  eternal, 
yet  it  could  not  change  its  own 
form,  or  produce. life  or  reason. 
Moreover,  when  we  consider  the 
diversified  and  wonderful  forms 
of  creatures  in  the  v/orld,  and  hov/ 
exactly  those  forms  and  stations 
correspond  with  their  respective 
ends  and  uses  ;  when  we  consider 
the  marvellous  and  exact  machi- 
nery, form,  and  motions  of  our 
own  bodies  ;  and  especially  v/hen 
we  consider  the  powers  of  our 
soul,  its  desires  after  an  infinite 
good,  and  its  close  union  with, 
and  incomprehensible  operations 
on  our  bodies,  we  are  obliged  to 
admit  a  Creator  of  infinite  wis- 
dom, pov/er,  and  goodness. 

''■4.  It  Is  argued  from  the  sup- 
port and  government  of  the  world. 
Who  can  consider  the  piotions  of 
the  heavenly  luminaries,  exactly 
calculated  for  the  greatest  advan- 
tage to  cur  earth,  and  its  inhabit- 


ants ;    the    exact    balancing   and 
regulating  of  the  meteors,  M'inds, 
rain,  snow,  hail,  vapour,  thunder, 
and  the  like  ;  the  regular  and  ne> 
ver  failing  returns  of  summer  and 
winter,  seed  time  and  harvest,  day 
and  night ;  the  astonishing  and  di- 
versified formation  of  vegetables  ; 
the  propagation  of  herbs,  almost 
every  where,  that  are  most  effec- 
tual to  heal  the  distempers  of  ani- 
mal bodies  in  that  place;  the  almost 
infinite  diversification  of  animals 
and  vegetables,and  their  pertinents, 
that,  notwithstanding  an  amazing 
similarity,  not  any  two  are  exactly 
alike,  but   every  form,   member, 
or  even  feather  or  hair  of  animals, 
and  every  pile  of  grass,  stalk  of 
corn,  herb,  leaf,  tree,   berry,   or 
other  fruit,  hath  something  pecu- 
liar to  itself ;  the  making  of  ani- 
mals   so   sagaciously   to    prepare 
their  lodgings,  defend  themselves, 
provide  for  their  health,  produce, 
and  protect,  and  procure  food  for 
their  young  ;  the  direction  of  fishes 
and  fowls  to   and  in   such   mar- 
vellous and  long  ]>eregrinations  at 
such  seasons,  and  to  such  places, 
as  best  correspond  with  their  own 
j  preservation   and   the    benefit    of 
I  mankind  ;   the  stationing  of  brute 
J  animals  by  sea  or  land,  at  less  or 
greater    distances,    as    are    most 
suited  to  the  safety,  subsistence, 
or  comfort  of  mankind,  and  pre- 
venting  the    increase    of   prolific 
j  animals,  and  making  the  less  fruit- 
I  ful  ones,  vv'hich  are  used,  exceed- 
!  ingly  to  abound  ;   the  so  diversi- 
I  fying  the    countenances,    voices,. 
}  and  hand- writings  of  men,  as  best 
I  secures  and  promotes  their  social 
{ advantages ;    the    holding   of    so 
\  equal   a   balance   between    males 


EXI 


279 


EX  I 


and  females,  while  the  number  of 
males,  whose  lives  are  peculiarly 
endangered  in  war,  navigation, 
Sec,  are  generally  greatest  j  the 
prolonging  of  men's  lives,  when 
the  world  needed  to  be  peopled, 
and  now  shortening  them,  when 
that  necessity  hath  ceased  to  exist ; 
the  almost  universal  provision  of 
food,  raiment,  medicine,  fuel,  &c., 
answerable  to  the  nature  of  parti- 
cular places,  cold  or  hot,  moist  or 
dry  ;  the  management  of  human 
affairs  relative  to  societies,  govern- 
ment, peace,  war,  trade,  &c.,  in 
a  manner  different  from  and  con- 
trary to  the  carnal  policy  of  those 
concerned ;  and  especially  the 
strangely  similar  but  diversified 
erection,  preservation,  and  govern- 
ment of  the  Jewish  and  Christian 
churches :  who,  I  say,  can  consider 
all  these  things,  and  not  acknow- 
ledge the  existence  of  a  wise,  mer- 
ciful, and  good  God,  who  governs 
the  world,  and  every  thing  in  it  ? 
"  5.  It  is  proved  from  the  mira- 
culous events  which  have  hap- 
pened in  the  world  j  such  as  the 
overflowing  of  the  earth  by  a 
flood  ;  the  confusion  of  languages ; 
the  burning  of  Sodom  and  the  ci- 
ties about  by  fire  from  heaven  ; 
the  plagues  of  Egj^t ;  the  divid- 
ing of  the  Red  Sea;  raining  manna 
from  heaven,  and  bringing  streams 
of  water  from  flinty  rocks  ;  the 
stopping  of  the  course  of  the  sun, 
he.  &c. 

"  6.  His  existence  no  less  clearly 
appears  from  the  exact  fulfilment 
of  so  many  and  so  particularly  cir- 
cumstantiated predictions,  pub- 
lished long  before  the  event  took 
place.  It  is  impossible  that  these 
predictions,  which  were  so  exactly 


fulfilled  in  their  respective  periods, 
and  of  the  fulfilment  of  wliich 
there  are  at  present  thousands  of 
demonstrative  and  sensible  docu- 
ments in  the  world,  could  proceed 
from  any  but  an  all-seeing  and 
infinitelv  wise  God. 

"  7.  The  existence  of  God  far- 
ther appears  from  the  fearful  pu- 
nishments which  have  been  inflict- 
ed upon  persons,  and  especially  up- 
on nations,  when  their  immorali- 
ties became  excessive,  and  that  by 
very  unexpected  means  and  instru- 
ments ;  as  in  the  drowning  of  the 
old  world  ;  destruction  of  Sodom 
and  Gomorrah ;  plagues  of  Pha- 
raoh and  his  servants  ;  overthrow 
of  Sennacherib  and  his  army ; 
miseries  and  ruin  of  the  Canaan- 
ites,  Jews,  Syrians,  Assyrians, 
Chaldeans,  Persians,  Egyptians, 
Greeks,  Romans,  Saracens,  Tar- 
tars, and  others. 

"  8.  Lastly,  The  existence  of 
God  may  be  argued  from  the  terror 
and  dread  which  wound  the  con- 
sciences of  men,  when  guilty  of 
crimes  which  other  men  do  not 
knov/,  or  are  not  able  to  punish  or 
restrain;  as  in  the  case  of  Caligula, 
Nero,  and  Domitian,  the  Roman 
emperors  ;  and  this  while  they 
earnestly  labour  to  persuade  them- 
selves or  others  that  there  is  no 
God.  Hence  t*ieir  being  afraid 
of  thunder^  or  to  be  left  alone  in 
the  dark,  S.-c." 

As  to  the  modus  of  the  Divine 
existence,  it  would  be  presumption 
to  attempt  to  explain.  That  he 
exists,  is  clear  from  the  foregoing 
arguments ;  but  the  manner  of 
that  existence  is  not  for  us  to 
know.  Many  good  men  have  ut- 
tered great  absurdities  in  endea- 


EXO 


280 


EXP 


vouring  to  explain  it,  and  after  all 
none  of  them  have  succeeded. 
The  wiset  of  men  never  made  the 
attempt.  Moses  began  his  writ- 
ings by  supposing  the  being  of  a 
God ;  he  did  not  attempt  to  ex- 
plain it.  Although  many  of  the 
inspired  v/riters  asserted  his  exist- 
ence, and,  to  discountenance  idol- 
atry, pleaded  for  his  perfections, 
yet  no  one  of  them  ever  pretended 
■to  explain  the  manner  of  his  be- 
ing. Our  duty  is  clear.  We  are 
not  commanded  or  expected  to 
understand  it.  All  that  is  re- 
quired is  this :  "  He  that  cometh 
to  God  must  believe  that  he  is, 
and  that  he  is  a  rewarder  of  them 
that  diligently  seek  him,"  Heb.  xi, 
6.  See  GilPs  Body  of  Div.^  b.  1-; 
CharnocJi's  TVorAs^vol.  i ;  Ridgleifs 
D'lv.^  ques.,  2  ;  BroxvrCs  System  of 
Div.^  Pieere's  Studies  of  Nature ; 
Sturm's  Reflections;  Sped,  de  la 
Nat. ;  Bonnet's  Philosophical  Re- 
searches;  and  writers  enumerated 
under  the  article  Atheism. 

EXORCISM,  the  expelling  of 
devils  from  persons  possessed,  by 
means  of  conjurations  and  prayers. 
The  Jews  made  great  pretences  to 
this  power.'  Josephus  tells  several 
wonderfultalesof  the  great  success 
of  several  exorcists.  One  Eleazer, 
a  Jew,  cured  manv  dsemoniacs,  he 
says,  by  means  of  a  root  set  in  a 
ring.  This  root,  with  the  ring,  was 
held  under  the  patient's  nose,  and 
the  devil  was  forthwith  evacuated. 
The  most  part  of  conjurors  of  this 
class  were  impostors,  each  pre- 
tending to  a  secret  nostrum  or 
charm  which  was  an  overmatch 
for  the  devil.  Our  Saviour  com- 
municated to  his  disciples  a  real 
power  over  daemons,  or  at  least 


over  the  diseases  said  to  be  occa= 
sioned  by  dsemons.  See  Demo- 
niac. 

Exorcism  makes  a  considerable 
part  of  the  superstition  of  the 
church  of  Rome,  the  rituals  of 
which  forbid  the  exorcising  any 
person  without  the  bishop's  leave. 
The  ceremony  is  performed  at  the 
loAver  end  of  the  church,  towards 
the  door.  The  exorcist  first  signs 
the  possessed  person  with  the  sign 
of  the  cross,  makes  him  kneel,  and 
sprinkles  him  with  holy  water. 
Then  follow  the  litanies,  psalms, 
and  prayer ;  after  which  the  ex- 
orcist asks  the  devil  his  name,  and 
adjures  him  by  the  mysteries  of 
the  christian  religion  not  to  afflict 
the  person  any  more  ;  then,  laying 
his  right  hand  on  the  dcemoniac's 
head,  he  repeats  the  form  of  exor- 
cism, which  is  this  ;  "  I  exorcise 
thee,  unclean  spirit,  in  the  name 
of  Jesus  Christ:  tremble,  O  Satan ! 
thou  enemy  of  the  faith,  thou  foe 
of  mankind,  who  hast  brought 
death  into  the  world  ;  who  hast 
deprived  men  of  life,  and  hast  re- 
belled against  justice  ;  thou  se- 
ducer of  mankind,  thou  root  of 
all  evil,  thou  source  of  avarice, 
discord,  and  envy."  The  Roman- 
ists likewise  exorcise  houses  and 
other  places  supposed  to  be  haunt- 
ed by  unclean  spirits  ;  and  the 
ceremony  is  much  the  same  with 
that  for  a  person  possessed. 

EXORDIUM.     See  Sermon. 

EXPERIENCE,  knowledge 
acquired  by  long  use  without  a 
teacher.  It  consists  in  the  ideas  of 
things  we  have  seen  or  read,  which 
the  judgment  has  reflected  on,  to 
form  for  itself  a  rule  or  method. 

Christian  experience  is  that  re- 


EXP 


281 


EXP 


ligious  knowledge  which  is  ac- 
quired by  any  exercises,  enjoy- 
ments, or  sufferings,  either  of  body 
or  mind.  Nothing  is  more  com- 
mon than  to  ridicule  and  despise 
what  is  called  religious  experience 
as  mere  enthusiasm.  But  if  reli- 
gion consist  in  feeling,  we  would 
ask,  how  it  can  possibly  exist  with- 
out experience  ?  We  are  convinced 
of,  and  admit  the  propriety  of 
the  term,  when  applied  to  those 
branches  of  science  which  are  not 
founded  on  speculation  or  con- 
jecture, but  on  sensible  trial.  Why, 
then,  should  it  be  rejected  when 
applied  to  religion  ?  It  is  evident 
that,  however  beautiful  religion 
may  be  in  name^  its  excellency 
and  energy  are  only  truly  known 
and  displayed  as  experienced.  A 
system  believed,  or  a  mind  merely 
informed,  will  produ.ce  little  good, 
except  the  heart  be  affected,  and 
we  feel  its  influence.  To  expe- 
rience, then,  the  religion  of  Christ, 
we  must  not  only  be  acquainted 
with  its  theory,  but  enjoy  its 
power  ;  subduing  our  corruptions, 
animating  our  affections,  and  ex- 
citing us  to  duty.  Hence  the  scrip- 
ture calls  experience  tastings  Ps. 
xxxiv,  S.  feelings  &c.  1st  Thes.  ii, 
13.  &c.  That  our  experience  is  al- 
ways absolutely  pure  in  the  pre- 
sent state  cannot  be  be  expected. 
"  The  best  experiences,"  says  a 
good  writer,  "  may  be  mixed  v/ith 
natural  affections  and  passions,  im- 
pressions on  the  imagination,  self- 
righteousness,  or  spiritual  pride  ;" 
but  this  is  no  reason  that  all  expe- 
rience is  to  be  rejected,  for  upon 
this  ground  nothing  could  be  re- 
ceived, since  nothing  is  absolutely 
perfect.  It  is,  however,  to  be  la- 
VoL.  I.  O  o 


mehted,  that  while  the  best  of  men 
have  a  mixture  in  their  expe-- 
rience,  there  are  others  whose  ex- 
perience (so  called)  is  entirely 
counterfeit.  "  They  have  been 
alarmed,  have  changed  the  ground 
of  their  confidence,  have  had  their 
Imaginations  heated  and  delighted 
by  impressions  and  visionary  re- 
presentations ;  they  have  recol- 
lected the  promises  of  the  gospel, 
as  if  spoken  to  them  with  peculiar 
appropriation,  to  certify  them  that 
their  sins  were  forgiven  ;  and  hav- 
ing seen  and  heard  such  w^onder- 
ful  things,  they  think  they  must 
doubt  no  more  of  their  adoption 
into  the  family  of  God.  They  have 
also  frequently  heard  all  expe- 
rience profanely  ridiculed  as  en- 
thusiasm ;  and  this  betrays  them 
into  the  opposite  extreme,  so  that 
they  are  emboldened  to  despise 
every  caution  as  the  result  of  en- 
mity to  internal  religion,  and  to 
act  as  if  there  were  no  delusive  or 
counterfeit  experience.  But  the 
event  too  plainly  shews  their  aw- 
ful mistake,  and  that  they  ground- 
ed their  expectations  upon  the  ac- 
count given  of  the  extraordinary 
operations  of  the  Hcjiy  Spirit  on 
the  minds  of  prophets,  rather  than 
on  the  promises  of  his  renewing 
influences  In  the  hearts  of  believers. 
When,  therefore,  they  lose  the  im- 
pressions with  which  they  once 
Were  elated,  they  relapse  nearly 
into  their  old  course  of  life,  their 
creed  and  confidence  alone  ex- 
cepted." 

Christian  "experience   may   be 
considered  as  genuine,  1,  When 
it  accords  widi  the  revelation  of. 
God's  mind  :ind  v/ill,  or  what  he 
has  revealed  in  his  word.     Anv 


EXP 


282 


EXP 


thing  contrary  to  this,  however 
pleasing,  cannot  be  found,  or  pro- 
duced by  Divine  agency.-2.  When 
its  tendency  is  to  promote  humi- 
lity in  us :  that  experience,  by 
which  we  learn  our  own  weakness, 
and  subdues  pride,  must  be  good. 
— 3.  When  it  teaches  us  to  bear 
with  others,  and  to  do  them  good. 
— 4.  When  it  operates  so  as  to 
excite  us  to  be  ardent  in  our  devo- 
tion, and  sincere  in  our  regard  to 
God.  A  powerful  experience  of 
the  Divine  favour  will  lead  us  to 
acknowledge  the  same,  and  to  ma- 
nifest our  gratitude  both  by  con- 
stant praise  and  genuine  piety. 

Christian  experience,  however, 
may  be  abused.  There  are  some 
good  people  who  certainly  have 
felt  and  enjoyed  the  power  of 
religion,  and  yet  have  not  always 
acted  with  prudence  as  to  their 
experience.  1.  Some  boast  of 
their  experiences,  or  talk  of  them 
as  if  they  were  very  extraor- 
dinary ;  whereas,  were  they  ac- 
quainted with  others,  they  would 
find  it  not  so.  That  a  man  may 
naake  mention  of  his  experience, 
is  no  way  improper,  but  often  use- 
ful ;  but  to  hear  persons  always 
talking  of  themselves,  seems  to  in- 
dicate a  spirit  of  pride,  and  that 
their  experience  cannot  be  very 
deep. — 2.  Another  abuse  of  expe- 
rience, is,  dependence  on  it.  We 
ought  certainly  to  take  encourage- 
ment frorn  past  circumstances,  if 
we  can  ;  but  if  we  are  so  depend- 
ent on  past  experience  as  to  pre- 
clude present  exertions,  or  always 
expect  to  have  exactly  the  same 
assistance  in  every  state,  trial, 
or  ordinance,  we  shall  be  disap- 
pointed.   God  has  wisely  ordered 


it,  that,  though  he  never  will  leave 
his  people,  yet  he  will  suspend  or 
bestow  comfort  in  his  own  time  ; 
for  this  very  reason,  that  we  may 
rely  on  him,  and  not  on  the  cir- 
cumstance or  ordinance. — 3.  It  i» 
an  abuse  of  experience,  when  in- 
troduced at  improper  times,  and 
before  improper  persons.  It  is 
true,  we  ought  never  to  be  asham- 
ed of  our  profession  ;  but  to  be  al- 
ways talking  to  irreligious  people 
respecting  experience,  which  they 
know  nothing  of,  is,  as  our  Saviour 
says,  casting  pearls  before  swine. 
Bunyan^s  Pilgrim! s  Progress ; 
BucPs  Treatise  on  Experience; 
GurnaWs  Christian  Armour ;  Dr. 
Ozuen  071  Psalm  cxxx ;  Edwards  on 
the  Affections^  and  his  thoughts  on 
the  Revival  of  Religion  in  New  En- 
gland ;  Dorneij^s  Contemplations. 
'  EXPERIENCE  MEETINGS, 
are  assemblies  of  religious  per- 
sons, who  meet  for  the  purpose  of 
relating  their  experience  to  each 
other.  It  has  been  doubted  by 
some  whether  these  meetings  are  of 
any  great  utility ;  and  whether  they 
do  not  in  some  measure  force  peo- 
ple to  say  more  than  is  true,  and 
puff  up  those  with  pride  who  are 
able  to  communicate  their  ideas 
vfith  facility  ;  but  to  this  it  may 
be  answered,  1.  That  the  abuse  of 
a  thing  is  no  proof  of  the  evil  of 
{it. — 2.  That  the  most  eminent 
I  saints  of  old  did  not  neglect  this 
practice,  Ps.  Isvi,  16.  Mai.  iii,  16. 
— 3.  That,  by  a  wise  and  prudent 
relation  of  experience,  the  chris- 
tian is  led  to  see  that  others  have 
participated  of  the  same  joys  and 
sorrows  with  himself;  he  is  excit- 
ed to  love  and  serve  God;  and 
animated    to   a   perseverance    in 


F  AI 


283 


F  AI 


duty,  by  finding  that  others,  of 
like  passions  with  himself,  are  zea- 
lous, active,  and  dihgent. — 4.  That 
the  scriptures  seem  to  enjoin  the 
frequent  intercourse  of  christians, 
for  the  purpose  of  strengtliening 
each  other  in  religious  services, 
Heb.  X,  24,  25.  Col.  iii,  16.  Matt, 
xviii,  20.     See  Conference. 

EXPIATION,  a  religious  act, 
by  which  satisfaction  or  atonement 
is  made  for  some  crime,  the  guilt 


removed,  and  the  obligation  to 
punishment  cancelled,  Lev.  xvi. 
See  Propitiation. 

EXPOSITIONS.  See  Com- 
mentaries. 

EXTREME  UNCTION,  one 
of  the  sacraments  of  the  Romish 
church  ;  the  fifth  in  order,  ad- 
ministered to  people  dangerously 
sick,  by  anointing  them  with  holy 
oil,  and  praying  over  them. 


F. 


FAITH  is  that  assent  which  we 
give  to  a  proposition  advanced  by 
another,  the  truth  of  which  we  do 
not  immediately  perceive  from 
olir  own  reason  and  experience  ; 
or  it  is  a  judgment  or  assent  of 
the  mind,  the  motive  whereof  is 
not  any  intrinsic  evidence,  but 
the  authority  or  testimony  of  some 
other  Avho  reveals  or  relates  it. 
The  Greek  word  Uccms^  translated 
faith,  comes  from  the  verb  na/dw,  to 
persuade  ;  the  nature  of  faith  be- 
ing a  persuasion  and  assent  of  the 
mind,  arising  from  testimony  or 
evidence. 

1.  Divine  Jaith,  is  that  founded 
on  the  authority  of  God,  or  it  is 
that  assent  which  we  give  to  what 
is  revealed  by  God.  The  objects 
of  this,  therefore,  are  matters  of 
revelation. 

2.  Human  Jaith,  is  that  where- 
by we  believe  what  is  told  us  by 
men.  The  objects  hereof  are 
matters  of  human  testimony  or 
evidence. 

3.  Historicalfaithy  is  that  where- 
by we  assent  to  the  truths  of  reve- 
lation as  a  kind  of  certain  and  in- 


fallible record,  James  ii,   17.  or 
to  any  fact  recorded  in  histoiy. 

4.  The  faith  of  miracles^  is  the 
persuasion  a  person  has  of  his  be- 
ing able,  by  the  Divine  power,  to 
effect  a  miracle  on  another,  Mat. 
xvii,  20.  1st  Cor.  xiii,  2.  or  an- 
other on  himself.  Acts  xiv,  9.  This 
obtained  chiefly  in  the  time  of 
Christ  and  his  apostles. 

5.  A  temporary  faith^  is  an  as- 
sent to  evangelical  truths,  as  both 
interesting  iind  desirable,  but  not 
farther  than  they  are  accompanied 
with  ^temporal  advantages;  and 
which  is  lost  when  such  advantages 
diminish  or  are  removed.  Mat.  xi, 
24.  Luke  viii,  13. 

6.  Faith  in  respect  to  futurity,  is 
a  moral  principle,  implying  such 
a  conviction  of  the  reality  and 
importance  of  a  future  state,  as  is 
sufficient  to  regulate  the  temper 
and  conduct. 

7.  Faith  in  Christ,  or  saving 
faith,  is  that  principle  wrought  in 
the  heart  by  the  Divine  Spirit, 
whereby  wc  are  persuaded  that 
Christ  is  the  Messiah  ;  and  possess 
such  a  desire  and  ex|)ectation  of 


F  AI 


284 


FAI 


the  blessirtgs  he  has  promised  in 
his  gospel,  as  engages  the  mind  to 
fix  its  dependence  on  him,  and 
subject  itself  to  him  in  all  the 
ways  of  holy  obedience,  and  re- 
lying solely  On  his  grace  for  ever- 
lasting life;  These  are  the  ideas 
which  are  generally  annexed  to  the 
definition  of  saving  faith ;  but, 
accurately  speaking,  faith  is  an 
act  of  the  understanding,  giving 
credit  to  the  testimony  of  the  gos- 
.pel ;  and  desire,  expectation,  con- 
fidence, Sec,  are  rather  the  effects 
of  it,  than  faith  itself,  though 
inseparably  connected  with  it. 
Much  has  been  said  as  to  the 
order  or  place  in  which  faith 
stands  in  the  christian  system, 
some  placing  it  before,  others 
after  repentance.  Perhaps  the 
following  remarks  on  the  subject 
may  be  considered  as  consistent 
v/ith  truth  and  scripture  :  1.  Re- 
generation is  the  work  of  God 
enhghtening  the  mind,  and  chang- 
ing the  heart,  and  in  order  of 
time  precedes  faith. — 2.  Faith  is 
the  consequence  of  regeneration, 
and  implies  the  perception  of  an 
object.  It  discerns  the  evil  of  sin, 
the  holiness  of  God,  gives  eredence 
to  the  testimony  of  God  in  his 
\vord,  and  seems  to  precede  re- 
pentance, since  we  cannot  re- 
pent of  that  of  which  we  have  no 
clear  perception  of,  or  no  concern 
about. — 3.  Repentance  is  an  after 
thought,  or  sorrowing  for  sin,  the 
evil  nature  of  v/hich  faith  per- 
ceives, and  which  immediately 
follows  faith. — 4.  Conversion  is  a 
turning  from  sin,  v/hich  faith  sees, 
and  rcpentsnce  sorrows  for,  and 
seems  to  follow,  and  to  be  the  end 
of  all  the  rest. 


As  to  the  properties  or  adjuncts 
of  faith  ^  we  may  observe,  1.  That 
it  is  the  first  and  principal  grace ;  it 
stands  first  in  order,  and  takes  the 
precedence  of  other  graces,  Mark 
xvi,  16.  Heb.  xi.  6. — 2.  It  is  every 
way  pixcious  and  valuable,  1st  Pet. 
ii.  1. — 3.  It  is  called  in  scripture 
one  faith;  for  though  there  are 
several  sorts  of  faith,  there  is  but 
one  specialor  saving  faith,  Eph.  iv, 
5. — 4.  It  is  also  denominated 
common  faith  ;  common  to  all  the 
regenerate,  Tit.  i,  4. — 5.  It  is  true, 
real,  and  unfeigned.  Acts  viii,  37. 
Rom.  X,  10. — 6.  It  cannot  be 
finally  lost  as  to  the  gi'ace  of  it, 
Phil,  i,  6.  Luke  xxii,  32. — 7.  It  is 
progressive,  Luke  xvii,  5.  2d 
Thess.  i,  3.^ — 8.  It  appropriates 
and  realizes,  or,  as  the  apostle 
says,  is  the  substance  of  things 
hoped  for,  and  the  evidence  of 
things  not  seen,  Heb.  xi,  1. 

The  evidences  or  effects  offaith^ 
are,  1.  Love  to  Christ,  1st  Pet.  i, 
8.  Gal.  V,  6. — 2.  Confidence,  Eph. 
iil,  12 — 3.  Joy,  Rom.  v,  11.  Phil. 

i,  25 4.   Prayer,  Heb.  iv,    16. 

— 5.  Attention  to  his  ordinances, 
and  profit  by  them,  Heb.  iv,  2. 
— 6.  Zeal  in  the  promotion  of  his 
glory,  1st  Cor.  XV,  58.  Gal.  vi,  9. 
— 7.  Holiness  of  heart  and  life, 
Matt,  vii,  20.  1st  John,  ii,  3.  Acts 
XV,  9.  James  ii,  18,  20,  22.  See 
articles  Assurance  and  Justi- 
fication, in  this  work  j  and  Pol- 
hill  on  Precious  Faith;  Lumber fs 
Sermons^  ser.  13,  14,  &c.  ;  Scott's 
Nature  and  Warrajit  of  Faith ; 
Roniaine\<i  Life,  Walk,  and  Tri^ 
imiph,  of  Faith  ;  Eotherharii's  Ess, 
on  Faith;  Dare's  Letters  on  Faith; 
A.  Hall  on  the  Faith  and  Jnfiuence: 
of  the  GospeL 


F  AI 


285 


F  A  L 


FAITH,  ARTICLE  OF.  See 

Article. 

FAITH,  CONFESSION  OF. 
See  Confession. 

FAITH,  IMPLICIT.  See  Im- 
plicit Faith. 

FAITHFULNESS  OF  GOD, 
is  that  perfection  of  his  nature 
whereby  he  infallibly  fulfils  his  de- 
signs, or  performs  his  word.  It  ap- 
pears, says  Dr.  Gill,  in  the  per- 
formance of  what  he  has  said  with 
respect  to  the  world  in  general 
that  it  shall  not  be  destroyed  by  a 
flood,  as  it  once  was,  and  for  a 
token  of  it  has  set  his  bow  in  the 
cloud  ;  that  the  ordinances  of 
heaven  should  keep  their  due 
course,  which  they  have  done  for 
almost  6000  years,  exactly  and 
punctually ;  that  all  his  creatures 
should  be  supported  and  provided 
for,  and  the  elements  all  made 
subservient  to  that  end,  which  we 
find  do  so  according  to  his  sove- 
reign pleasure,  Gen.  ix.  Isa.  liv, 
9.  Ps.  cxlv.  Deut.  xi,  14,  15.  2d 
Pet.  iii. 

2.  It  appears  in  the  fulfilment 
of  what  he  has  said  with  respect 
to  Christ.  Whoever  will  take  the 
pains  to  compare  the  predictions 
of  the  birth,  poverty,  life,  suffer- 
ings, death,  resurrection,  and  as- 
cension of  Christ,  with  the  accom- 
plishment of  the  same,  will  find  a 
striking  demonstration  of  the  faith- 
fulness of  God. 

3.  It  appears  in  the  perform- 
ance of  the  promises  which  he 
has  made  to  his  people.  In  res- 
pect to  temporal  blessings,  1st  Tim. 
iv,  8.  Psal.  Ixxxiv,  11.  Is.  xxxiii, 
16, — 2.  To  spiritual,  1st  Cor.  i,  9. 
In  supporting  them  in  temptation, 
1st  Corinth-  x,  1.3.    Encouraging 


them  under  persecution,  1st  Pet. 
iv,  12,  13.  Isa.  xh,  10.  Sanctif}-- 
ing  afflictions,  Heb.  xii,  4  to  12. 
Directing  them  in  difficulties,  1st 
Thess.  V,  24.  Enabling  them  to 
persevere,  Jer.  xxxi,  40.  Bring- 
ing them  to  glory,  1st  John  ii,  25. 
4.  It  appears  in  the  fulfilling  of 
his  threatenings.  The  curse  came 
upon  Adam  according  as  it  was 
threatened.  He  fulfilled  his 
threatening  to  the  old  world  in 
destroying  it.  He  declared  that 
the  Israelites  should  be  subject 
to  his  awful  displeasure,  if  they 
walked  not  in  his  ways  :  it  was  ac- 
cordingly fulfilled,  Deut.  xxviii. 
See  Immutability. 

FALL  OF  MAN,  the  loss  of 
those  perfections  and  that  happi- 
ness which  his  Maker  bestowed 
on  him  at  his  creation,  through 
transgression  of  a  positive  com- 
mand, given  for  the  trial  of  man's 
obedience,  and  as  a  token  of  his 
holding  every  thing  of  God,  as 
lord  paramount  of  the  creation, 
with  the  use  of  ev€iy  thing  in  it, 
exclusive  of  the  fruit  of  one  tree. 
This  positive  law  he  broke  by  eat- 
ing the  forbidden  fruit ;  first  the 
v/oman,  then  the  man :  and  thu* 
the  condition  or  law  of  the  cove- 
nant being  broken,  the  covenant 
itself  was  broken.  The  woman 
was  enticed  by  an  evil  genius, 
under  the  semblance  of  a  serpent, 
as  appears  from  its  reasoning  the 
woman  into  the  transgression  of 
the  law,  of  which  a  brute  beast  is 
incapable.  Hence  this  evil  genius 
is  called  a  murderer  and  a  liar 
from  the  beginning,  John  viii,  44. 
j  Kom.  V,  12.  the  old  serpent.  Rev. 
xii,  9.  XX,  2.  Moses  relates  this 
history,  from  what  appeared  ex- 


F  AL 


286 


F  AL 


ternally  to  sense  ;  both,  therefore, 
are  to  be  conjoined,  the  serpent 
as  the  instrument,  and  the  devil 
as  the  primary  cause.  Man  suf- 
fered himself  to  be  seduced  by 
perverse  and  confused  notions  of 
good  and  evil,  prompted  by  a  de- 
sire of  a  greater  degree  of  perfec- 
tion, and  swayed  by  his  sensual 
appetite,  in  contradiction  to  his 
reason,  Gen.  iii,  6.  And  thus  it 
appears  possible,  how,  notwith- 
standing the  divine  image  with 
which  man  is  adorned,  he  might 
fall ;  for,  though  including  in  it 
knowledge,  it  did  not  exclude 
from  it  confused  notions,  which 
are  those  arising  from  sense  and 
imagination,  especially  when  off 
our  guard  and  inattentive,  blindly 
following  the  present  impression. 
From  this  one  sin  arose  another, 
and  then  another  from  the  con- 
nexion of  causes  and  effects,  till 
this  repetition  brought  on  a  habit 
of  sin,  consequently  a  state  of 
moral  slavery  ;  called  by  divines 
a  death  in  sin,  a  spiritual  death,  a 
defect  of  power  to  act  according 
to  the  law,  and  from  the  motive 
of  the  divine  perfections,  as  death 
in  general  is  such  a  defect  of  power 
of  action  ;  and  this  defect  or  ina- 
bilit}',  with  all  its  consequences, 
man  entailed  on  his  posterity,  re- 
maining upon  them,  till  one  great- 
er man  remove  this,  and  reinstate 
them  in  all  they  forfeited  in 
Adam. 

In  the  fall  of  man  we  may  ob- 
serve, 1 .  The  greatest  infidelity. — 
2.  Prodigious  pride. — 3.  Horrid 
ingratitude. — 4.  Visible  contempt 
ot  God's  majesty  and  justice. — 5. 
Unaccountable  foUj-r — G.  A  cru- 
elty to  himself  and  to  all  his  pos- 


terity. Infidels,  however,  have 
treated  the  account  of  the  fall, 
and  its  effects,  with  contempt,  and 
considered  the  whole  as  absurd  % 
but  their  objections  to  the  manner 
have  been  ably  answered  by  a  va- 
riety of  authors  ;  and  as  to  the 
effects^  one  would  hardly  think  any 
body  could  deny.  For^  that  man 
is  a  fallen  creature^  is  evident,  if 
we  consider  his  misery  as  an  inha- 
bitant of  the  natural  world ;  the 
disorders  of  the  globe  we  inhabit, 
and  the  dreadful  scourges  with 
which  it  is  visited  ;  the  deplorable 
and  shocking  circumstances  of  our 
birth  ;  the  painful  and  dangerous 
travail  of  women  ;  our  natural  un- 
cleanliness,helplessness,ignorance, 
and  nakedness ;  the  gross  dark- 
ness in  which  we  naturally  are, 
both  with  respect  to  God  and  a 
future  state  ;  the  general  rebellion 
of  the  brute  creation  against  us  ; 
the  various  poisons  that  lurk  in 
the  animal,  vegetable,  and  mineral 
world,  ready  to  destroy  us ;  the 
heavy  curse  of  toil  and  sweat  to 
which  we  are  liable  ;  the  innume- 
rable calamities  of  life,  and  the 
pangs  of  death.  Again,  it  is  evi- 
dent, if  M^e  consider  him  as  a  citi- 
zen of  the  moral  world ;  his  com- 
mission of  sin ;  his  omission  of  du- 
ty; the  triumph  of  sensual  appetites 
over  his  intellectual  faculties  ;  the 
corruption  of  the  powers  that  con- 
stitute a  good  head,  the  under- 
standing, imagination,  memory, 
and  reason  ;  the  depravity  of  the 
powers  which  form  a  good  heart, 
the  will,  conscience,  and  affec- 
tions ;  his  manifest  alienation 
from  God ;  his  amazing  disregard 
even  of  his  nearest  relatives  ;  his 
1  unaccountable    unconcern     about 


F  AM 


287 


F  AN 


himself ;  his  detestable  tempers  ; 
the  general  out-breaking  of  human 
corruption  in  all  individuals  ;  the 
universal  overflowing  of  it  in  all 
nations.  Some  striking  proofs  of 
this  depravity  may  be  seen  in  the 
general  propensity  of  mankind  to 
vain,  irrational,  or  cruel  diversions ; 
in  the  universality  of  the  most  ridi- 
culous, impious,  inhuman,  and  dia- 
bolical sins ;  in  the  aggravating  cir- 
cumstances, attending  the  display 
of  this  corruption  ;  in  the  many  in- 
effectual endeavours  to  stem  its 
torrent ;  in  the  obstinate  resistance 
it  makes  to  divine  grace  in  the 
unconverted;  the  amazing  strug- 
gles of  good  men  with  it;  the  tes- 
timony of  the  heathens  concern- 
ing it ;  and  the  preposterous  con- 
ceit which  the  unconverted  have 
of  their  own  goodness.  Diet,  of 
the  Bible ;  Fletcher's  Appeal  to 
Matters  of  Fact;  Berry  Street 
Lectures^  vol.  i,  1 80,  189;  South' s 
Sermons^  vol.1,  124,  150  ;  Bates^s 
Harmony  of  Div.  Att.,  p.  98 ;  Bos- 
tori's  Fourfold  State,  part  1st. 

FALSEHOOD,  untruth,  de- 
ceit. See  Lying. 
•  FALSE  CHRISTS.  See  Messiah. 
FAMILIARS  OF  THE  IN- 
QUISITION, persons  who  assist 
in  apprehending  such  as  are  accu- 
sed, and  carrying  them  to  prison. 
They  are  assistants  to  the  inquisi- 
tor, and  called  familiarSy  because 
they  belong  to  his  family.  In  some 
provinces  of  Italy  they  are  called 
cross  bearers;  and  in  others  the 
scholars  of  St.  Peter  the  martyr  ; 
and  wear  a  cross  before  them  on 
the  outside  garment.  They  are 
properly  bailiffs  of  the  inquisition ; 
and  the  vile  office  is  esteemed  so 
hqnourable,  that  noblemen  in  the 


kingdom  of  Portugal  have  been 
ambitious  of  belonging  to  it.  Nor 
is  this  surprising,  when  it  is  con- 
sidered that  Innocent  III  granted 
very  large  indulgences  and  privi- 
leges to  these  familiars  ;  and  that 
the  same  plenarj'-  indulgence  is 
granted  by  the  pope  to  every  single 
exercise  of  this  office,  as  was 
granted  by  the  Lateran  council  to 
those  who  succoured  the  Holy 
Land.  When  several  persons  are 
to  be  taken  up  at  the  same  time, 
these  familiars  are  commanded  to 
order  matters  that  they  may  know 
nothing  of  one  another's  being 
apprehended  ;  and  it  is  related, 
that  a  father  and  his  three  sons 
and  three  daughters,  who  lived 
together  in  the  same  house,  were 
carried  prisoners  to  the  inquisi- 
tion without  knowing  any  thing 
of  one  another's  being  there  till 
seven  years  afterwards,  when  they 
that  were  alive  were  released  by 
an  act  of  faith.  See  art.  Act  op 
Faith. 

FAMILYPRAYER.SeePRAYER. 

FAMILY  OF  LOVE,  or  Fa- 
MiLisTs.     See  Love. 

FANATICS,  wild  enthusiasts, 
visionary  persons,  who  pretend  to 
revelation  and  inspiration.  The 
ancients  called  those  fanatici  Avha 
passed  their  time  in  temples 
(fana);  and  being  often  seized 
with  a  kind  of  enthusiasm,  as  if  in- 
spired by  the  Divinity,  shewed  wild 
and  antic  gestures,  cutting  and 
slashing  their  arms  with  knives, 
shaking  the  head,  &c.  Hence  the 
word  was  applied  among  us  to  the 
Anabaptists,  Quakers,  &c.,  at  their 
first  rise,  and  is  now  an  epithet 
given  to  modern  prophets,  enthusi- 
asts, &c. ;  and  we  believe  unjustly 


FAS 


288 


FAS 


to  those  who  possess  a  consider- 
able degree  of  zeal  and  fervency 
of  devotion. 

F ARNOVIANS,  a  sect  of  So- 
cinians,  so  called  from  Stanislaus 
Famovius,  who  separated  from 
The  other  Unitarians  in  the  year 
1568.  He  asserted  that  Christ 
had  been  engendered  or  produced 
out  of  nothing  by  the  Supreme 
Being,  before  the  creation  of  this 
terrestrial  globe,  and  warned  his 
disciples  against  paying  religious 
worship  to  the  Divine  Spirit. 
This  sect  did  not  last  long  ;  for 
having  lost  their  chief,  who  died 
in  1G15,  it  was  scattered,  and  re- 
duced to  nothing. 

FASTING,  abstinence  from 
/ood,  more  particularly  that  absti- 
nence which  is  used  on  a  religious 
account. 

The  Jews  had  every  year  a 
stated  and  solemn  fast  on  the  10th 
day  of  the  month  Tisri^  which  ge- 
nerally answered  to  the  close  of 
our  September.  This  solemnity 
was  a  day  of  strict  rest  and  fasting 
to  the  Israelites.  Many  of  them 
spent  the  daj'  before  in  prayei*,  and 
such  like  penitential  exercises.  On 
the'day  itself,  at  least  in  later  times, 
they  made  a  tenfold  confession  of 
their  sins,  and  were  careful  to  end 
all  their  mutual  broils.  See  Lev. 
xvi.  Numb,  xxix,  7,  12.  Lev. 
xxiii,  23,  32.  Individuals  also 
fasted  on  any  extraordinary  dis- 
tress. Thus  David  fasted  during 
thesickness  of  his  adulterous  child, 
2d  Sam.  xii,  21.  Ahab,  when  he 
was  threatened  v/ith  ruin,  1  st  Kings 
xii,  27.  Daniel,  when  he  under- 
stood that  the  Jev.'ish  captivity 
drew  to   an  end,    9th    and    10th 


chapters  of  Nehemiah,  Joshua, 
Sec. 

However  light  some  think  of  re- 
ligious fasting,  it  seems  it  has  been 
practised  by  most  nations  from  the 
remotest  antiquity.  The  Egyp- 
tians, Phoenicians,  and  Assyrians, 
had  their  fasts  as  well  as  the  Jews. 
Porphyry  affirms  that  the  Egj'p- 
tians,  before  their  stated  sacrifices, 
always  fasted  a  great  many  days ; 
sometimes  for  six  weeks.  The 
Greeks  observed  their  fasts  much 
in  the  same  manner.  At  Rome, 
kings  and  emperors  fasted  them- 
selves. Numa  Pompilius,  Julius 
Ceesar,  Augustus,  Vespasian,  and 
others,  we  are  told,  had  their 
stated  fast  days  ;  and  Julian  the 
apostate  was  so  exact  in  this  ob- 
servation, thathe  outdid  the  priests 
themselves.  The  Pythagoreans 
frequently  fasted  rigidly  for  a 
long  time  ;  and  Pythagorus,  their 
master,  continued  his  fast,  it  is 
said,  for  forty  days  together.  The 
Brachmans,  also,  and  the  Chinese, 
have  also  their  stated  fasts. 

Every  one  knows  how  much 
fasting  has  been  considered  as  an 
important  rite  in  the  church  of 
Rome,  and  the  extremes  they 
have  run  into  in  this  respect. 
See  article  Abstinence.  The 
church  of  England  also  has  par- 
ticular seasons  for  fasting,  especi- 
ally that  of  Lent,  which  is  to  be 
observed  as  a  time  of  humilia- 
tion before  Easter,  the  general 
festival  of  our  Saviour's  resurrec- 
tion. Fast  days  are  also  appoint- 
ed by  the  legislature  upon  any  ex- 
traordinary occasions  of  calamity, 
war,  &c.  See  art.  Rogation, 
Lext. 


FAS 


289 


FAT 


Religious  fasting  consists,  1.  "  In 
abstinence  from  every  animal  in- 
dulgence, and  from  food,  as  far  as 
health  and  circumstances  Avill  ad- 
mit.— 2.  In  the  humble  confession 
of  our  sins  to  God,  with  contrition 
or  sorrow  for  them. — 3.  An  ear- 
nest deprecation  of  God's  displea- 
sure, and  humble  supplication  that 
he  would  avert  his  judgments. — 
4.  An  intercession  with  God  for 
such  spiritual  and  temporal  bles- 
sings upon  ourselves  and  others 
which  are  needful."  It  does  not 
appear  that  our  Saviour  instituted 
any  particular  fast,  but  left  it  op- 
tional. Any  state  of  calamity  and 
sorrow,  however,  naturally  sug- 
gests this.  How  far  or  how  long 
a  person  should  abstaih  from  food, 
depends  on  circumstances.  The 
great  end  to  be  kept  in  view  is,  hu- 
miliation fo)-  and  abstinenceyroOT 
sin.  "  If,"  says  Marshall,  "  ab- 
stinence divert  our  minds,  by  rea- 
son of  a  gnawing  appetite,  then 
you  had  better  eat  sparingly, 
as  Daniel  in  his  greatest  fast," 
Dan.  X,  2,  3.  They,  however, 
who  in  times  of  public  distress, 
when  the  judgments  of  God  are 
in  the  earth,  and  when  his  pro- 
vidence seems  to  call  for  humi- 
liation, will  not  relinquish  any  of 
their  sensual  enjoyments,  nor  deny 
themselves  in  the  least,  cannot  be 
justified  ;  since  good  men  in  ail 
ages,  more  or  less,  have  luimblcd 
themselves  on  such  occasions ;  and 
reason  as  well  as  scripture  evi- 
denlly  prove  it  to  he-  our  duty. 
Matt,  ix,  15.  1st  Cor.  vii,  5.  Ben- 
neit\H  Clirint.  Orat.^  vol.  ii,  p.  18, 
25  ;  TUlofsori's  Scnnoiis^  ser.  39 ; 
Slmpsoii's  Essaij  on  Fast'ing;  3'Iar- 
shail  on  Scnic.,  p.  J-iTS,  2r4. 
Vol.  I.       ■  P  p 


FATE  (fatum)  denotes  an  in- 
evitable necessity  depending  upon 
a  superior  cause.  The  word  is 
formed  afando^  "from  speaking," 
and  primarily  implies  the  same 
with  effatum^  viz.  a  word  or  de- 
cree pronounced  by  God,  or  a  fix- 
ed sentence  whereby  the  Deity  has 
prescribed  the  order  of  things,  and 
allotted  to  every  person  what  shall 
befal  him.  The  Greeks  called  it 
iiij.3Lf(/.ivt^  as  it  were  a  chain  or  ne- 
cessary series  of  things  indissolu- 
bly  linked  together.  It  also  used 
to  express  a  certain  unavoidable 
designation  of  things,  by  which  all 
agents,  both  necessary  and  volun- 
tary, are  sv/ayed  and  directed  to 
their  ends.  Fate  is  divided  into 
physical  and  divine.  1 .  Physical 
fate  is  an  order  and  series  of  na- 
tural causes,  appropriated  to  their 
effects  ;  as,  that  fire  warms  ;  bo- 
dies communicate  motion  to  each 
other,  &c.;  and  the  effects  of  it 
are  all  the  events  and  phenomena 
of  nature. — 2.  Divine  fate  is 
what  is  more  usually  called  pro- 
vidence. See  Providence,  Ne- 
cessity. 

FATHERS,  a  term  applied  to 
ancient  authors  who  have  pre- 
served in  their  writings  traditions 
of  the  church.  Thus  St.  Chry- 
sostom,  St.  Basil,  &c.,  are  called 
Greek  fathers,  and  St.  Augustine 
and  St.  Ambrose,  Latin  fathers. 
No  author  who  wrote  later  than 
the  twelfth  century  is  dignified 
with  the  title  of  fatiier. 

Some  suppose  that  the  study  of 
tlie  fathers  is  barren  and  unim- 
proving  ;  that  though  there  are 
some  excellent  things  interspersed 
in  tiicir  writings,  y^t  the  instruc- 
ii(;n  to  be  derived  from  them  will 


FAU 


290 


FE  A 


hardly  repay  the  toil  of  breaking 
up  the  ground;  that  a  lifetime 
would  hardly  suffice  to  read  them 
with  care,  and  digest  them  com- 
pletely. Others  have  such  an  high 
opinion  of  the  fathers,  as  to  be 
almost  afraid  of  interpreting  scrip- 
ture against  their  decision.  They 
suppose,  that  as  some  of  them  were 
companions,  disciples,  or  succes- 
sively followers  of  the  apostles,  it 
is  highly  probable  that  they  must 
have  been  well  informed,  that 
their  sentiments  must  be  strongly 
illustrative  of  the  doctrines  of  the 
New  Testament ;  and  that  as  con- 
troversies have  increased,  and 
dogmas  received  since  their  time, 
they  xnust  be  much  less  entangled 
with  decisions  naerely  human  than 
miore  recent  commentators.  Per- 
haps it  is  best  to  steer  between 
these  two  opinions.  If  a  person 
have  ability,  inclination,  and  op- 
portunity to  wade  through  them, 
let  him  ;  but  if  not,  referring  to 
thein  occasionally  naay  suffice. 
One  caution,  however,  is  neces- 
sary, which  is  this  ;  that  though 
the  judgment  of  antiquity  in  some 
disputable  points  certainly  may 
be  useful,  yet  we  ought  never  to 
put  them  on  the  same  footing  as 
the  scriptures.  In  many  cases  they 
may  be  considered  as  competent 
witnesses  ;  but  we  must  not  con- 
fide in  their  verdict  as  judges. 
yort'vi's  Works^  vol.  vii,  chap. 
2  ;  Keifs  Serin,  at  Bampton  Lec.^ 
ser.  1 ;  Wat-burton's  Julian;  Simp- 
son^s  Strictures  on  Religious  Opi- 
nions^ latter  end  ;  Daille''s  Use  of 
the  Fathers^  p.l67 ;  Laiv's  Theory. 
FAULT,  a  slight  defect  or 
crime  v/hich  subjects  a  person  to 
blame,  but  not  to  punishment ;   a  I 


deviation  from,  or  transgression  of 
a  rule  in  some  trifling  circum- 
stances. 

FAVOUR  OF    GOD.     See 

Grace. 

FEAR  is  that  uneasiness  of 
mind  which  arises  from  an  ap- 
prehension of  danger,  attended 
with  a  desire  of  avoiding  it." 
Fear,"  says  Dr.  Watts,  "  shews 
itself  by  paleness  of  the  cheek, 
sinking  of  the  spirits,  trembling  of 
the  limbs,  hurry  and  confusion  of 
the  mind  and  thoughts,  agonies  of 
nature,  and  fainting.  Many  a  per- 
son has  died  with  fear.  Sometimes 
it  rouses  all  nature  to  exert  itself  in 
speedy  flight,  or  other  methods  to 
avoid  the  approaching  evil;  sudden 
terror  has  performed  some  almost 
incredibles  of  this  kind." 

Fear  is  of  different  kinds:  1. 
There  is  an  idolatrous  and  su- 
perstitious fear^  which  is  called 
^sia-i^xiixovioiy  a  fear  of  daemons, 
which  the  city  of  Athens  was 
greatly  addicted  to.  "  I  perceive," 
says  the  apostle  Paul,  "  that  in 
all  things  ye  are  too  supersti- 
tious," or  given  to  the  fear  and 
worship  of  false  deities. — 2.  There 
is  an  extertial  fear  of  God,  an 
outward  shew  and  profession  of  it, 
which  is  taught  by  the  precepts  of 
men  ;  as  in  the  men  of  Samaria, 
v/ho  pretended  to  fear  the  Lord, 
as  the  priest  instructed  them,  and 
yet  served  their  own  gods ;  and 
such  an  external  fear  of  God,  Job's 
friends  supposed  was  all  that  he 
had,  and  that  even  he  had  cast 
that  ofi^. — 3.  There  is  an  hypocri- 
tical fear^  when  men  make  a  pro- 
fession of  religion  ;  but  only  serve 
him  for  some  sinister  end  and 
selfish  view,    which    Satan    insi- 


FE  A 


291 


FE  A 


auated  was  Job's  case.  "  Doth 
Job  fear  God  for  nought  ?"  Job  i, 
9. — 4.  There  is  a  servile  fear^ 
which  they  possess  who  serve  God 
from  fear  of  punishment,  and  not 
from  love  to  him. — 5.  There  is  a 
filial  fear,  such  as  that  of  a  son  to 
his  father.     See  next  article. 

FEAR  OF  GOD,  is  that  holy 
disposition  or  gracious  habit  form- 
ed in  the  soul  by  the  Holy  Spirit, 
whereby  we  are  inclined  to  obey 
all  God's  commands,  and  eviden- 
ces itself,  1.  By  a  dread  of  his  dis- 
pleasure.— 2.  Desire  of  his  fa- 
vour.— 3.  Regard  for  his  excel- 
lencies.— 4.  Submission  to  his  will. 
— 5.  Gratitude  for  his  benefits. — 
6.  Sincerity  in  his  worship. — 7. 
Conscientious  obedience  to  his 
commands,  Frov.  viii,  13.  Job 
xxviii,  28.  Bates's  Works,  page 
913  ;  GilPs  Body  of  Divinity,  vol. 
iii,  book  1. 

FEAR  OF  DEATH.  See 
Death. 

FEARS.     See  Doubts. 

FEAST,  in  a  religious  sense,  is 
a  ceremony  of  feasting  and  thanks- 
giving. 

The  prittcipal  feasts  of  the  Jews 
were  the  feasts  of  trumpets,  of  ex- 
piation, of  tabernacles,  of  the  de- 
dication, of  the  passover,  of  pen- 
tecost,  and  that  of  purification. 
Feasts,  and  the  ceremonies  there- 
of, have  made  great  part  of  the 
religion  of  almost  all  nations  and 
sects  ;  hence  the  Greeks,  the  Ro- 
mans, Mahometans,  and  Christ- 
ians, have  not  been  without  them. 

Feasts,  among  us,  are  either 
innmoveable  or  moveable.  Im- 
moveable feasts  are  those  constant- 
ly celebrated  on  the  same  day  of 
the  year.     The  principal  of  these 


are  Christmas-day,  Circumcision, 
Epiphany,  Candlemas  or  Purifica- 
tion ;  Lady-day,  or  the  annuncia- 
tion, called  also  the  incarnation 
and  conception ;  All  Saints  and  All 
Souls  ;  besides  the  days  of  the  se- 
veral apostles,  as  St.  Thomas,  St. 
Paul.  Moveable  feasts  are  those 
which  are  not  confined  to  the  same 
day  of  the  year.  Of  these  the 
principal  is  Easter,  which  gives  law 
to  all  tlie  rest,  all  of  them  follow- 
ing and  keeping  their  proper  dis- 
tances from  it.  Such  are  Palm  Sun- 
day, Good  Friday,  Ash- Wednes- 
day, Sexagesima,  Ascension-day, 
Pentecost,  and  Trinity  Sunday. 

Besides  these  feasts,  which  are 
general,  and  enjoined  by  the 
church,  there  are  others  local 
and  occasional,  enjoined  by  the 
magistrate,  or  voluntarily  set  on 
foot  by  the  people :  such  are  the 
days  of  thanksgiving  for  d^eliverj' 
from  war,  plagues,  &c. ;  such  also 
are  the  vigils  or  wakes  in  com- 
memoration of  the  dedication  of 
particular  churches. 

The  prodigious  increase  offcast- 
days  in  the  christian  church 
commenced  towards  the  close  of 
the  fourth  century,  occasioned 
by  the  discovery  that  was  made 
of  the  remains  of  martyrs,  and 
other  holy  men,  for  the  com- 
memoration of  whom  they  were 
established.  These,  instead  of  be- 
ing set  apart  for  pious  exercises, 
were  abused  in  indolence,  vo- 
luptuousness, and  criminal  prac- 
tices. Many  of  them  were  insti- 
tuted on  a  pagan  model,  and  per- 
verted to  similar  purposes.  See 
Hoi.Y  Day. 

FEAST  OF  ASSES.      This 
was  afestival  in  the  Romish  church, 


EE 


292 


FIF 


and  was  celebrated  at  Beauvais. 
They  chose  a  young  woman  the 
handsomest  in  the  town ;  made  her 
ride  on^n  ass  richly  harnessed,  and 
placed  in  her  arms  a  pretty  infant. 
In  this  state,  followed  by  the  bish- 
op and  clergy,  she  marched  in 
procession  from  the  cathedral  to 
the  church  of  St.  Stephen;  enter- 
ed into  the  sanctuary,  placed  her- 
self near  the  altar,  and  then  cele- 
brated mass  ;  not  forgetting  to  ex- 
plain the  fine  qualities  of  the  ani- 
mal, and  exhorting  him  to  make 
a  devout  genuflection,  with  a  va- 
riety of  other  fooleries. 

FEELINGS  RELIGIOUS, 
are  those  sensations  or  emotions 
of  the  mind  produced  by  the  views 
we  have  of  religion.  VVhile  some 
enthusiasts  boast  of,  depend  on, 
and  talk  much  of  tlieir  feelings, 
there  are  others  who  are  led  to 
discard  the  term,  and  almost  to 
abandon  the  idea  of  religious  feel- 
ing ;  but  it  is  evident,  that  how- 
ever many  have  been  misguided 
and  deceived  by  tht'n\ feelings^ 
yet  there  is  no  such  thing  as 
religion  without  this.  For  in- 
stance ;  religion  consists  in  con- 
trition, repentance,  and  devotion  : 
now,  Vi'hat  is  contrition  but  a  feel- 
ing- of  sorrow  for  sin  ?  what  is  re- 

o 

pentance  but  a  feeling  of  hatred 
to  it,  with  a  relinquishing  of  it? 
what  is  devotion  but  a  feeling  of 
love  to  God  and  his  ways  ?  Who 
can  separate  the  idea  of  feeling 
from. any  of  these  acts,?  The  fact 
is  this ;  religious  feelings,  like 
every  thing  else, have  been  abused; 
and  men  to  avoid  the  imputation 
of  fanaticism,  have  run  into  the 
opposite    evil    of    lukewarmness,- 


and  been  content  with  a  system 
v/ithout  feeling  its  energy.  See 
Affection,  Enthusiasm,  Expe- 
rience. 

FELLOWSHIP,  joint  interest, 
or  the  having  one  common  stock. 
The  fellowship  of  the  saints  is  tM'o- 
fold:  1.  With  God,  1st  John  i,  3. 
1st  Cor.  i,  9.  1st  Cor.  xiii,  14. — 
2,  With  one  another,  1st  John  i,  7. 

Fellowship  xvith  God^  consists  in 
knowledge  of  his  will,  Job  xxii, 
21.  John  xvii,  3.  Agreement, 
Amos  iii,  2.  Strength  of  affection, 
Rom.  viii,  38,  39.  Enjoyment  of 
his  presence,  Ps.  iv,  6.  Confor- 
mity to  his  image,  l^t  John  ii,  6. 
1st  John  i,  6. 

Felloxvsliip  of  the  ,$■«?"«?*,  may  be 
considered  as  a  fellov/ship  of  du- 
ties, Rom.  xii,  6.  1st  Cor.  xii,  1. 
IstThess.  V,  17,  18.  James  v,  16. 
Of  ordinances,  Heb.  x,  24.  Acts 
ii,  46.  Of  graces,  love,  joy,  &c. 
Heb.  X,  24.  Mai.  iii,  16.  2d  Cor. 
viii,  4.  Of  interest  spiritual,  and 
sometimes  temporal,  Rom.  xii,  4. 
13.  Heb.  xiii,  16.  Of  sufferings, 
Rom.  XV,  1,  2.  Gal.  vi,  1,  2.  Rom. 
xii,  15.  Of  eternal  glory,  Rev. 
vii,  9.     See  Communion. 

FjLDELITY,  faitfulness,  or  the 
conscientious  discharge  of  those 
duties  of  a  religious,  personal,  and 
relative  nature,  which  we  are 
bound  to  perform.  See  an  ex- 
cellent sermon  on  the  subject  in 
Dr.  Erskine's  Sermons^  vol.  ii,  p. 
304. 

FIFTH  MONARCHY  MEN, 
were  a  set  of  enthusiasts,  in  the 
time  of  Cromwell,  who  expected 
the  sudden  appearance  of  Christ 
to  establish  on  earth  a  new  mon- 
archy or  kingdom.  In  consequence 


FIR 


<50'1 


F  L  A 


of  this  illusion,  some  of  them 
aimed  at  the  subversion  of  all 
hviman  government.  In  ancient 
history  we  read  of  four  great 
aiionarchies,  the  Assyrian,  Persian, 
Grecian,  and  the  Roman ;  and 
these  men,  believing  that  this  new 
spiritual  kingdom  of  Christ  was 
to  be  the  fifth,  came,  to  bear  the 
name  by  which  they  were  called. 

FILIAL  PIETY,  is  the  affec- 
tionate attachment  of  children  to 
their  parents,  including  in  it  love, 
reverence,  obedience,  and  relief. 
Justly  has  it  been  observed,  that 
these  great  duties  are  prompted 
equally  b^v  nature  and  by  gratitude, 
independent  of  the  injunctions  of 
religion  ;  for  where  shall  we  find 
the  person  v«'ho  hath  received  from 
any  one  benefits  so  great,  or  so 
many,  as  children  from  their  pa- 
rents ?  And  it  may  be  truly  said, 
that  if  persons  are  undutiful  to 
their  parents,  they  seldom  prove 
good  to  any  other  relation.  See 
article  Children, 

FILIATION  OF  THE  SON 
OF  GOD.     See  Son  of  God. 

FIRE  PHILOSOPHERS.  See 
Theosophists. 

FIRST  FRUITS,  among  the 
Hebrews,  were  oblations  of  part  of 
the  fruits  of  the  harvest,  offered  to 
God  as  an  acknowledgment  of 
his  sovereign  dominion.  There 
was  another  sort  of  first  fruits 
which  was  paid  to  God.  When 
bread  was  kneaded  in  a  family,  a 
portion  of  it  was  set  apart,  and 
given  to  the  priest  or  Levite  who 
dwelt  in  the  place.  If  there  were 
no  priest  or  Levite  there,  it  was 
cast  into  the  oven  and  consumed 
by  the  Ixi-e.  These  offerings  made 
a  considerable  part  of  the  revenues 


of  the  priesthood,  Lev.  xxiii. 
Exod.  xxii,  29.  Chron.  xxiii,  19. 
Numb.  XV,  19,  20. 

Thajirst  fruits  of  the  Spirit  are 
such  communications  of  his  grace 
on  earth  as  fully  assure  us  of  the 
full  erijoyment  of  God  in  hea- 
ven, Rom.  viii,  23.  Christ  is  called 
the  first  fruits  of  them  that  slept ; 
for  as  the  first  fruits  were  earnests 
to  the  Jews  of  the  succeeding  har- 
vest, so  Christ  is  the  first  fruits  of 
the  resurrection,  or  the  earnest  of 
a  future  resurrection  ;  that  as  he 
rose,  so  shall  believers  also  rise  to 
happiness  and  life,  1st  Cor,  xv.  20. 

First  fruits  are  mentioned  in 
ancient  writers  as  one  part  of  the 
church  revenue. 

First  fruits^  in  the  church  of 
England,  are  the  profits  of  every 
spiritual  benefice  for  the  first  year, 
according  to  the  valuation  thereof 
in  the  king's  book. 

FIVE  POINTS,  are  the  five 
doctrines  controverted  between 
the  Arminians  and  Calvinists. 
See  Calvinists. 

FLACIANS,  the  followers  of 
Matthias  Flacias  Illyricus,  who 
flourished  in  the  sixteenth  century. 
He  taught  that  original  sin  is  the 
very  substance  of  human  nature  j 
and  that  the  fall  of  man  was  an 
event  which  extin-guished  in  the 
human  mind  every  virtuous  ten- 
dency, every  noble  faculty,  and 
left  nothing  behind  it  but  universal 
darkness  and  corruption. 

FLAGELLANTES.  See 
Whippers. 

FLATTERY,  a  servile  and 
fawning  behaviour,  attended  with 
servile  compliances  and  obseqvii^- 
ousness,  in  order  to  gain  a  per- 
son's favour. 


FOO 


294 


FOR 


FLEMINGIANS,  or  Flan- 
DRiANS,  a  sect  of  rigid  Anabap- 
tists, who  acquired  this  name,  in 
the  sixteenth  century,  because 
most  of  them  were  natives  of 
Flanders,  by  way  of  distinction 
from  the  Waterlandians.  See 
Waterlandians. 

FOLLY,  according  to  Mr. 
Locke,  consists  in  the  drawing  of 
false. conclusions  from  just  princi- 
ples, by  which  it  is  distinguished 
from  madness,  which  draws  just 
conclusions  from  false  principles. 
But  this  seems  too  confined  a  de- 
finition. Folly,  in  its  most  general 
acceptation,  denotes  a  weakness  of 
intellect  or  apprehension,  or  some 
partial  absurdity  in  sentiment  or 
conduct.     See  Evil,  Sijst. 

FOOL,  one  who  has  not  the 
use  of  reason  or  judgment.  In 
scripture,  wicked  persons  are  often 
called  fools,  or  foolish,  because 
such  act  contrary  to  reason,  trust 
to  their  own  hearts,  violate  the 
laws  of  God,  and  prefer  things  vile, 
trifling,  and  temporal,  to  such  as 
are  important,  divine,  and  eternal. 

FOOLISH  SPEAKING,  such 
kind  of  conversation  as  includes 
folly,  and  can  no  ways  be  profitable 
and  interesting,  Eph.  v,  4.  Face- 
tioitsiiessj  indeed,  is  allowable, 
when  it  ministers  to  harmless  di- 
vertisement  and  delight  to  con- 
versation ;  when  it  is  used  for  the 
purpose  of  exposi'ng  things  v/hich 
are  base  and  vile ;  when  it  has 
for  its  aim  the  reformation  of 
others  ;  when  used  by  way  of  de- 
fence under  unjust  reproach.  But 
all  such  kind  of  speaking  as  in- 
cludes profane  jesting,  loose,  wan- 
ton scurrilous,  injurious', unseason- 
able, vain-glorious  talk,  is  strictly 
forbidden.   See  Barrow's  excellent 


Sermon    on    this    subject    in    his 
Works,  vol.  i,  ser.  14. 

FORBEARANCE,  is  the  act 
of  patiently  enduring  provocation 
or  offence.  The  following  may  be 
considered  as  the  most  powerful 
incentives  to  the  exercise  of  this 
disposition:  1.  The  consideration 
that  we  ourselves  often  stand  in 
need  of  it  from  others,  Gal.  vi.  1. 
— 2.  The  express  command  of 
scripture,  Eph.  iv,  2.  Col.  iii,  13. 
— 3.  The  felicity  of  this  disposi- 
tion. It  is  sure  to  bring  happi- 
ness at  last,  while  resentment  only 
increases  our  own  misery. — 4. 
That  it  is  one  of  the  strongest  evi- 
dences we  can  give  of  the  reality 
of  our  religion,  John  xiii,  S5. — 5. 
The  beautiful  example  of  Christ, 
Heb.  xii,  3.  1st  Pet.  ii,  21  to  23. 

FORBEARANCE  OF  GOD. 
See  Patience  of  G®d. 

FOREKNOWLEDGE  OF 
GO  D, is  his  foresight  or  knowledge 
of  every  thing  that  is  to  come  to 
pass,  Acts  ii,  23.  This  foreknow- 
ledge, says  Charnock,  was  from 
eternity.  Seeing  he  knows  things 
possible  in  his  power,  and  things 
future  in  his  will,  if  his  power  and 
resolves  were  from  eternity,  his 
knowledge  must  be  so  too ;  or  else 
we  must  make  him  ignorant  of  his 
own  power,  and  ignorant  of  his 
own  will  from  eternity,  and  con- 
sequently not  from  eternity  blessed 
and  perfect.  His  knowledge  of 
possi])le  things  must  run  parallel 
with  his  power,  and  his  know- 
ledge of  future  things  run  parallel 
with  his  will.  If  he  willed  from 
eternit;/,  he  knew  from  eternit). 
what  he  willed;  but  that  he  did 
v/ilS  from  eternity  we  must  grant, 
unless  we  vrould  render  him 
changeable,  and  conceive  him  ts 


FOR 


295 


FOR 


be  made  in  time  of  not  willing  ; 
willing.  The  knowledge  God  hath 
in  time  was  always  one  and  the 
same,  because  his  understanding 
is  his  proper  essence,  as  perfect 
as  his  essence,  and  of  an  immuta- 
ble nature. 

To  deny  this  is,  says  Saurin, 
to  degradq  the  Almighty ;  for 
what,  pray,,  is  a  God  who  created 
beings,  and  who  could  not  foresee 
what  would  result  from  their  exist- 
ence ?  A  God,  who  formed  spirits 
united  to  bodies  by  certain  laws, 
and  who  did  not  know  how  to 
combine  these  lav/s  so  as  to  fore- 
see the  effects  they  would  pro- 
duce ?  A  God  forced  to  suspend 
his  judgment?  A  God  who  every 
day  learns  something  new,  and 
who  doth  not  know  to-day  what 
will  happen  to-morrow  ?  A  God 
who  cannot  tell  whether  peace 
will  be  concluded,  or  war  con- 
tinue to  ravage  the  world ;  whe- 
ther religion  will  be  received  in 
a  certain  kingdom,  or  whether  it 
will  be  banished ;  whether  the  right 
heir  will  succeed  to  the  crown, 
or  whether  the  crown  v/ill  be  set 
on  the  head  of  an  usurper  ?  For 
according  to  the  different  deter- 
minations of  the  wills  of  men,  of 
king,  or  people,  the  prince  will 
make  peace,  or  declare  war  ;  re- 
ligion will  be  banished  or  admitted ; 
the  tyrant  or  the  lawful  king  will 
occupy  the  throne  :  for  if  God 
cannot  foresee  how  the  volitions 
of  men  will  be  determined,  he 
cannot  foresee  any  of  these  events. 
What  is  this  but  to  degrade  God 
from  his  Deity,  and  to  make  the 
most  perfect  of  all  intelligences 
a  being  involved  in  dajkness  and 


uncertainty  like  ourselves  ?"    See 
Omniscience. 

FORGIVENESS,  the  pardon  of 
any  offence  committed  against  us. 
This  is  a  virtue  which  our  Lord 
expressly  inculcates,  not  as  ex- 
tending to  our  friends  only,  but  to 
our  enemies.  "  Ye  have  heard," 
saith  he,  "  Thou  shalt  love  thy 
neighbour,  and  hate  thine  enemy  ; 
but  I  say  unto  you,  love  your 
enemies,"  &c.  "  This,"  says  an  in- 
genious writer,  "  was  a  lesson  so 
new,  and  so  utterly  unknown,  till 
taught  by  his  doctrines  and  en- 
forced by  his  example,  that  the 
wisest  moralist  of  the  wisest  na- 
tions and  ages  represented  the  de- 
sire of  revenge  as  a  mark  of  a 
noble  mind  ;  but  how  much  moi^e 
magnanimous,  how  much  more  be- 
neficial to  mankind,  is  forgiveness ! 
It  is  more  magnanimous,  because 
every  generous  and  exalted  dispo- 
sition of  the  human  mind  is  re- 
quisite to  the  practice  of  it;  and  it 
is  the  most  beneficial,  because  it 
puts  an  end  to  an  eternal  succession 
of  injuries  and  retaliations."  Let 
us,  therefore,  learn  to  cherish  this 
noble  disposition ;  let  the  bitterest 
enemy  we  have  be  softened  by  its 
effects ;  let  us  consider  also  how 
friendly  it  is  to  our  own  happiness, 
and  how  much  it  prevents  the  un- 
happiness  of  others.  "  The  feuds 
and  animosities  in  families,  and  be- 
tween neighbours,  which  disturb 
the  intercourse  of  huijian  life,  and 
collectively  compose  half  the  mi- 
sery of  it,  have  their  foundation 
in  the  want  of  a  forgiving  temper, 
and  can  never  cease  but  by  the 
exercise  of  this  virtue  on  one  side, 
I  or  on  both."     Paley^s  Mor.  Plnl^ 


FOR 


296 


FOR 


vol.  i,  p.  2n  ;  Soame  Jenyns^s  Int. 
Emd.^  p.  67,  68;  Clarke's  Ser.^  ser. 
2,  vol.  x;  TiUotsoJi's  Ser.,  vol,  viii, 
p.  254. 

FORGIVENESS  OF  SINS. 
See  Pardon,  Mercy. 

FORMALIST,  one v/ho places 
too  much  dependance  on  outward 
ceremonies  of  religion,  or  who  is 
more  tenacious  of  the  form  of  i-e- 
ligion  than  the  power  of  it. 

FORMS  OF  PRAYER.  See 
Prayer. 

'  FORNICATION,  whoredom, 
or  the  act  of  incontinency  between 
single  persons  ;  for  if  either  of  the 
parties  be  married,  it  is  adultery. 
While  the  scriptures  give  no  sanc- 
tion to  those  austerities  which  have 
been  imposed  on  men  under  the 
idea  of  religion,  so,  on  the  other 
hand,  they  give  no  liberty  for  the 
indulgence  of  any  propensity  that 
would  either  militate  against  our 
own  interest  or  that  of  others.  It 
is  in  vain  to  argue  the  innocency 
of  fornication  from  the  natural  pas- 
sions implanted  in  us,  since  "  malr- 
riage  is  honourable  in  ail,"  and 
wisely  appointed  for  the  prevention 
of  those  evils  which  would  other- 
wise ensue;  and,  besides,  the  exist- 
ence of  any  natural  propensity  in  us, 
is  Ro  proof  that  it  is  to  be  gratified 
without  any  restriction.  That  forni- 
cation is  both  unlawful  and  unrea- 
sonable, may  be  easily  inferred,  if 
we  consider,  1.  That  our  Saviour 
expressly  declares  this  to  be  a  crime, 
Mark  vii,  21  to  23.-2.  That 
the  scriptures  declare  that  forni- 
cr.tQi-si  cannot  inherit  the  kingdom 
of  God,  1st  Cor.  vi,  9.  Heb.  xii, 
10.  Gal.  V,  19  to  22.' — 3.  For- 
nication sinks  into  a  mere  brutal 
commerce,    a  gratification  which 


was  designed  to  be  the  cement  of 
a  sacred,  generous,  and  tender 
friendship. — 4.  It  leaves  the  main- 
tenance and  education  of  chil- 
dren, as  to  the  father  at  kast,  ut- 
terly unsecured. — 5.  It  strongly 
tempts  the  guilty  mother  to  guard 
herself  from  infamy  by  nvethods 
of  procuring  abortion,  v/hich  not 
only  destroy  the  child,  but  often 
the  mother. — 6.  It  disqualifies  the 
deluded  creatures  to  be  either 
good  wives,  or  mothers,  in  any 
future  marriage,  ruining  that  mo- 
desty which  is  the  guardian  of  nup- 
tial happiness. — 7.  It  absolutely 
disqualifies  the  man  for  the  best 
satisfactions  ;  those  of  truth,  vir- 
tue, innocent  gratifications,  tender 
and  generous  friendship. — 8.  It 
often  perpetuates  a  disease  which 
may  be  accounted  one  of  the 
sorest  maladies  of  human  nature, 
and  the  effects  of  which  are  said 
to  visit  the  constitution  of  even 
distant  generations. 

FORTITUDE  is  a  virtue  or 
quality  of  the  mind  generally  con- 
sidered the  same  with  courage  ; 
though,  in  a  more  accurate  sense, 
they  seem  to  be  distinguishable. 
Courage  resists  danger,  fortitude 
supports  pain.  ,  Courage  may 
be  a  virtue  or  vice,  according  to 
the  circumstances ;  fortitude  is 
always  a  virtue :  we  speak  of 
desperate  courage,  but  not  of  des- 
perate fortitude.  A  contempt  or 
neglect  of  dangers  may  be  called 
courage  ;  but  fortitude  is  the  vir- 
tue of  a  rational  and  considerate 
mind,  and  is  founded  in  a  sense  of 
honour,  and  regard  to  duty. 

Christian  fortitude  may  be  de- 
fined that  state  of  mind  which 
arises  from  trust  and  confidence  in 


FOR 


297 


FRA 


God ;  enables  us  to  stand  collected 
and  undisturbed  in  the  time  of 
difficulty  and  danger;  and  is  at 
an  equal  distance  from  rashness  on 
the  one  hand,  and  pusillanimity  on 
the  other.  Fortitude  takes  differ- 
ent names,  according  as  it  acts 
in  opposition  to  different  evils ; 
but  some  of  those  names  are  ap- 
plied with  considerable  latitude. 
With  respect  to  danger  in  general, 
fortitude  has  been  called  intre- 
pidity;  with  respect  to  the  dan- 
gers of  war,  valour;  with  respect  to 
pain  of  body,  or  distress  of  mind, 
patience;  with  respect  to  labour, 
activity;  with  respect  to  injury, 
forbearance ;  with  respect  to  our 
condition  in  general,  magnani- 
mity. 

Christian  fortitude  is  necessary 
to  vigilance,  patience,  self-denial, 
and  perseverance.  The  noble  cause 
in  which  the  christian  is  engaged ; 
the  glorious  Master  whom  he 
serves  ;  the  provision  that  is  made 
for  his  security ;  the  illustrious 
examples  set  before  him;  the  ap- 
probation of  a  good  conscience  ; 
and  the  grand  prospect  he  has  in 
view,  are  all  powerful  motives  to 
the  exercise  of  this  grace.  WattiPs 
Ser,^  ser.  31  ;  Evans's  Ser.^  ser. 
19,  vol.  i ;  Steele'' s  Christian  Hero. 

FORTUNE,  a  name  which,  a- 
mong  the  ancients,  seemed  to  have 
denoted  a  principle  of  fortuity, 
whereby  things  came  to  pass  v/ith- 
out  being  necessitated  thereto ; 
but  what  and  whence  that  principle 
is  they  do  not  seem  to  have  ever 
precisely  thought.  It  does  not 
appear  that  the  antiquity  of  the 
word  is  very  high.  It  is  acknow- 
ledged,   on  all  hands,  that  '^'■Jx^^y 

Vol,  I.  Q  q 


from  whence  the  Romans  took 
their  fortuna,  was  a  term  invented 
long  after  the  times  of  Hesiod  and 
Homer,  in  whose  writings  it  no 
where  occurs.  The  philosophical 
sense  of  the  word  coincides  with 
what  is  vulgarly  called  chance. 
It  is  difficult  to  ascertain  what  it 
denotes  in  the  minds  of  those  who 
now  use  the  word.  It  has  been 
justly  observed,  that  they  who 
would  substitute  the  name  of  pro- 
vidence in  lieu  of  that  of  fortune^ 
cannot  give  any  toleralile  sense  to 
half  the  phrases  wherein  the  word 
occurs. 

FRAME.  This  word  is  usedto 
denote  any  state  of  mind  a  man 
may  be  in ;  and,  in  a  religious 
sense,  is  often  connected  with  the 
word  feeling,  or  used  synony- 
mously with  it.     See  Feeling. 

"  If  our  frames  are  comfort- 
able," says  one,  "  we  may  make 
them  the  matter  of  our  praise, 
but  not  of  our  pride  ;  we  may 
make  them  our  pleasure,  but  not 
our  portion  ;  we  may  make  them 
the  matter  of  our  encouragement, 
but  not  the  ground  of  our  securi- 
ty. Are  our  frames  dark  and  un- 
comfortable ?  they  should  humble 
us,  but  not  discourage  us  ;  they 
should  quicken  us, but  not  obstruct 
us  in  our  application  for  necessary 
and  suitable  grace  ;  they  should 
make  us  see  our  own  emptiness, 
but  not  make  us  suspect  the  ful- 
ness of  Christ;  the\'  should  make 
us  see  our  own  unwcJrthiness,  but 
not  make  us  suspect  the  willing- 
ness oi"  Christ ;  thej'  should  make 
us  see  our  own  weakness,  but  not 
cause  us  to  suspect  the  strength  of 
Christ ;  thev  should  make  us  sus- 


FRA 


298 


FRA 


,  pect  our  own  hearts,  but  not  the 
firmness  and  freeness  of  the  pro- 
mises." 

FRANCISCANS,  a  religious 
order  founded  by  St.  Francis  in  the 
year  1209.  Francis  was  the  son  of 
a  merchant  of  Assisi,  in  the  pro- 
vince of  Umbria,  who,  having  led 
a  dissolute  life,  was  reclaimed  by 
a  fit  of  sickness,  and  afterwards 
fell  into  an  extravagant  devotion 
that  looked  less  like  religion  than 
alienation  of  mind.  Soon  after 
this,  viz.  in  the  year  1208,  hear- 
ing the  passage  repeated  in  which 
Christ  addresses  his  apostles,  Pro- 
vide  neither  gold  nor  silver^  &c.. 
Matt.  X,  9,  10.  he  was  led  to 
consider  a  voluntary  and  absolute 
poverty  as  the  essence  of  the  gos- 
pel, and  to  prescribe  this  poverty 
ns  a  sacred  rule  both  to  himself 
and  to  the  few  that  followed  him. 
This  new  society,  which  appeared 
to  Innocent  III  extremely  adapted 
to  the  present  state  of  the  church, 
and  proper  to  restore  its  declining- 
credit,  was  solemnly  approved  and 
confirmed  by  Honorius  III,  in 
1223,  and  had  made  a  considerable 
progress  before  the  death  of  its 
founder  in  1226.  Francis  through 
an  excessive  humility,  would  not 
cufFer  the  monks  of  his  order  to  be 
called  fratres^  i.   e.    brethren   or 


friars;  hnt  fraterculiy   i. 


e. 


litth 


brethren,  or  friars  minor,  by 
wliich  denomination  they  have 
been  generally  since  distinguished. 
The  Franciscans  and  Dominicans 
were  zealous  and  active  friends  to 
the  papal  hierarchy,  and  in  return 
were  distingulslied  by  peculiar  pri- 
vileges and  honourable  employ- 
ments. The  Franciscans,  in  par- 
ticular,   were    invested   with    the 


treasure  of  ample  and  extensive 
indulgencies,  the  distribution  of 
which  was  committed  to  them  by 
the  popes  as  a  mean  of  subsistence, 
and  a  rich  indemnification  for 
their  voluntary  poverty.  In  con- 
sequence of  this  grant,  the  rule  of 
the  founder,  which  absolutely  pro- 
hibited both  personal  and  collec- 
tive property,  so  that  neither  the 
individual  nor  the  community 
were  to  possess  either  fund,  reve- 
nue, or  any  worldly  goods,  was 
considered  as  too  strict  and  severe, 
and  dispensed  with  soon  after  his 
death.  In  1231,  Gregory  IX  pifb- 
lished  an  interpretation  of  this  rule, 
mitigating  its  rigour  j  which  was 
farther  confii"med  by  Innocent  IV 
in  1245,  and  by  Alexander  IV 
in  1247".  These  milder  operations 
were  zealously  opposed  by  a  branch 
of  the  Franciscans,  called  the  spi- 
ritual ;  and  their  complaints  were 
regarded  by  Nicholas  III,  who,  in  - 
1279,  published  a  famous  consti- 
tution, confirming  the  rule  of  St. 
Francis,  and  containing  an  ela- 
borate explication  of  the  maxims 
it  recommended,  and  the  duties 
it  prescribed.  In  1287,  Matthew, 
of  Aqua  Sparta,  being  elected  ge- 
neral of  the  order,  discouraged  the 
ancient  discipline  of  the  Francis- 
cans, and  indulged  his  monks  in 
abandoning  even  the  appearance 
of  poverty ;  and  this  conduct  in- 
flamed the  indignation  of  the  spi- 
ritual or  austere  Franciscans  ;  so 
that,  from  the  year  1290,  seditions 
and  schisms  arose  in  an  order  that 
had  been  so  famous  for  its  pre- 
tended disinterestedness  and  hu- 
millt}'.  Such  was  the  enthusiastic 
frenzy  of  the  Franciscans,  that 
they  impiously  maintained  that  the 


FR  A 


299 


FR  A 


founder  of  their  order  was  a  second 
Christ,  in  all  respects  similar  to  the 
first,  and  that  their  institution  and 
discipline  were  the  true  gospel  of 
Jesus.  Accordingly  Albizi,  a  Fran- 
ciscan, of  Pisa,  published  a  book 
in  1383,  with  the  applause  of  his 
order,  entitled  the  Book  of  the 
Conformities  of  St.  Francis  with 
Jesus  Christ.  In  the  beginning  of 
this  century  the  whole  Francis- 
can order  Avas  divided  into  two 
parties :  the  one  embracing  the 
severe  discipline  and  absolute  po- 
verty of  St.  Francis,  and  were 
called  spirituals;  and  the  other, 
who  insisted  on  mitigating  the  aus- 
tere injunctions  of  their  founder, 
were  denominated  brethren  of  the 
community.  These  wore  long,  loose, 
and  good  habits,  with  large  hoods ; 
the  former  were  clad  in  a  strait, 
coarse,  and  short  dress,  pretending 
that  this  dress  was  enjoined  by  St. 
Francis,  and  that  no  power  on 
earth  had  a  right  to  alter  it.  Nei- 
ther the  moderation  of  Clement 
V,  nor  the  violence  of  John  XXII, 
could  appease  the  tumult  occa- 
sioned by  these  two  parties  j  how- 
ever, their  rage  subsided  from  the 
year  1329.  In  1368  these  two 
parties  were  formed  into  two  large 
bodies,  comprehending  the  whole 
Franciscan  order,  viz.  the  conven- 
tual brethren^  and  the  brethren  of 
the  observance^  or  observation^ixdva 
whom  sprang  the  Capuchins  and 
Recollects.  The  general  opinion 
is,  that  the  Franciscans  came  into 
England  in  the  year  1224,  and 
liad  their  first  house  at  Canterbury, 
and  their  secpnd  at  London  ;  but 
there  is  no  certain  account  of  their 
being  here  till  king  Henry   VII 


built  two  or  three  houses  for  them. 
At  the  dissolution  of  the  monas- 
teries, the  conventual  Franciscans 
had  about  fifty-five  houses,  w-hich 
were  under  seven  custodies  or  war- 
denships,  viz;,  those  of  London, 
Worcester,  York,  Cambridge, 
Bristol,  Newcastle,  and  Oxford. 

FRATERNITY,  in  the  Roman 
Catholic  countries,  signifies  a  socie- 
ty for  the  improvement  of  devotion. 
Of  these  there  are  several  sorts,  as, 
1.  The  fraternity  of  the  Rosary, 
founded  by  St.  Dominic.  It  is 
divided  into  two  branches,  called 
the  common  rosary^  and  the  perpe- 
tual rosary ;  the  former  of  whom 
are  obliged  to  confess  and  commu- 
nicate every  first  Sunday  in  the 
month,  and  the  latter  to  repeat 
the  rosary  continually. — 2.  The 
fraternity  of  the  Scapulary,  whom 
it  is  pretended,  according  to  the 
sabbatine  bull  of  pope  John  XXII, 
the  Blessed  Virgin  has  promised 
to  deliver  out  of  hell  the  first  Sun- 
day after  their  death. — 3.  The 
fraternity  of  St.  Francis's  girdle 
are  clothed  with  a  sack  of  a  grey 
colour,  which  they  tie  with  a  cord ; 
and  in  processions  walk  bare- 
footed, carrying  in  their  hands 
a  wooden  cross. — 4.  That  of  St. 
Austin's  leathern  girdle  compre- 
hends a  great  many  devotees. 
Italy,  Spain,  and  Portugal,  are  the 
countries  where  are  seen  the  great- 
est number  of  these  fraternities, 
some  of  which  assume  the  name  of 
arch  fraternity .  Pope  Clement 
VII  instituted  the  arch-fraternity 
of  charity,  which  distributes  bread 
every  Sunday  among  the  poor,  and 
gives  portions  to  forty  poor  girls  on 
the  feast  of  St.  Jerome,  their  pa-^ 


FR  A 


300 


FR  A 


tron.  The  fraternity  of  death 
buries  such  dead  as  are  aban- 
'doned  by  their  relations,  and 
causes  masses  to  be  celebrated  for 
them. 

FRATRICELLI,  an  enthu- 
siastic sect  of  Franciscans,  which 
rose  in  Italy,  and  particularly  in  the 
marquisate  of  Ancona,  about  the 
year  1294.  The  word  is  an  Italian 
diminutive,  signifying  f rater culi^ 
or  "little  brothers,"  and  was  here 
used  as  a  term  of  derision,  as  they 
were  most  of  them  apostate  monks, 
whom  the  Italians  call  frateUi^  or 
fratricelli.  For  this  reason  the 
term  fratricelli^  as  a  nick-name, 
was  given  to  many  other  sects,  as 
theCatharists,  the  V/aldenses,&c., 
however  different  in  their  opinions 
and  their  conduct.  But  this  de- 
nomination, applied  to  the  austere 
part  of  the  Franciscans,  was  con- 
sidered as  honourable.  See  Fran- 
ciscans. 

The  founders  of  this  sect  were 
p.  Maurato  and  P.  de  Fossom- 
broni,  who,  having  obtained  of 
pope  Celestin  V  a  permission  to 
live  in  solitude  after  the  manner  of 
hermits,  and  to  observe  the  rule 
of  St.  Francis  in  all  its  rigour,  se- 
veral idle  vagabond  monks  joined 
them,  who,  living  after  their  own 
fancies,  and  making  all  perfection 
to  consist  in,  povert}^,  were  soon 
condemned  by  pope  Boniface 
VIII  and  his  successor,  and  the 
inquisitors  ordered  to  proceed 
against  them  as  heretics  ;  which 
commission  they  executed  Vv-ith 
their  usUal  barbarity.  Upon  this, 
retiring  into  Sicily,  Peter  John 
Oliva  de  Serignan  had  no  sooner 
published  his  comment  on  the 
Apocalypse,  than  they  adopted  his 


tenets.  They  held  the  Romish 
church  to  be  Babylon,  and  pro- 
posed to  establish  another  far 
more  perfect  one :  they  maintain- 
ed that  the  rule  of  St.  Francis  was 
the  evangelical  rule  observed  by 
Jesus  Christ  and  his  apostles.  They 
foretold  the  reformation  of  the 
church,  and  the  restoration  of  the 
true  gospel  of  Christ  by  the  genuine 
followers  of  St.  Francis  ;  and  de- 
clared their  assent  to  almost  all 
the  doctrines  which  were  pub- 
lished under  the  name  of  the  ab- 
bot Joachim,  in  the  "  Introduc- 
tion to  the  Everlasting  Gospel,"  a 
book  published  in  1250,  and  ex- 
plained by  one  of  the  spiritual 
friars,  whose  name  was  Gerhard. 
Among  other  errors  inculcated  in 
this  book,  it  is  pretended  that  St. 
Francis  was  the  angel  mentioned 
in  Rev.  xiv,  6.  and  had  promul- 
gated to  the  world  the  true  and 
everlasting  gospel ;  that  the  gospel 
of  Christ  was  to  be  abrogated  in 
1260,  and  to  give  place  to  this  new 
and  everlasting  gospel,  which  was 
to  be  substituted  in  its  room  ;  and 
that  the  ministers  of  this  great  re- 
formation were  to  be  humble  and 
bare-footed  friars,  destitute  of  all 
worldly  employments.  Some  say, 
they  even  elected  a  pope  of  their 
church  ;  at  least  they  appointed  a 
general  with  superiors,  and  built 
monasteries,  Sec.  Besides  the  opi- 
nions of  Oliva,  they  held  that  the 
sacraments  of  the  church  were  in- 
valid, because  those  who  admi- 
nistered them  had  no  longer  any 
power  or  jurisdiction.  They  were 
condemned  again  by  pope  John 
XXII,  in  consequence  of  whose 
cruelty  they  regarded  him  as  the 
true    antichrist ;    but   several   of 


FRE 


301 


F  R  E 


them,  returning  into  Germany, 
were  sheltered  by  Lewis  duke  of 
Bavaria,  the  emperor. 

There  are  authentic  records, 
from  which  it  appears,  that  no 
less  than  2000  persons  were  burnt 
by  the  inquisition,  from  the  year 
1318  to  the  time  of  Innocent  VI, 
for  their  inflexible  attachment  to 
the  order  of  St.  Francis.  The  se- 
verities against  them  were  again 
revived,  towards  the  close  of  the 
fifteenth  centur}',  by  pope  Nicho- 
las V  and  his  successors.  How- 
ever, all  the  persecutions  which 
this  sect  endured  were  not  suffi- 
cient to  extinguish  it  j  for  it  sub- 
sisted until  the  times  of  the  refor- 
mation in  Germany,  when  its  re- 
maining votaries  adopted  the  cause 
and  embraced  the  doctrine  and 
discipline  of  Luther. 

FREE  AGENCY  is  the  power 
of  following  one's  inclination,  or 
whatever  the  soul  does,  with  the 
full  bent  of  preference  and  desire. 
Many  and  long  have  been  the 
disputes  on  this  subject;  not  that 
man  has  been  denied  to  be  a  free 
agent ;  but  the  dispute  has  been 
in  what  it  consists.  See  articles 
Liberty  and  Will.  A  distinc- 
tion is  made  by  writers  between 
free  agency,  and  what  is  called  the 
Arminian  notion  of  free  will.  The 
one  consists  merely  in  the  power 
of  following  our  prevailing  incli- 
nation ;  the  other  in  a  supposed 
pov/er  of  acting  contrary  to  it,  or 
at  least  of  changing  it.  The  one 
predicates  freedom  of  the  man ; 
the  other,  of  a  faculty  in  man  ; 
which  Mr.  Locke,  though  an  anti- 
necessarian,  explodes  as  an  ab- 
surdity. The  one  goes  merely  to 
render  us  accountable  beings  ;  the 


other  arrogantly  claims  a  part, 
yea,  the  very  turning  point  of  sal- 
vation. According  to  the  latter, 
we  need  only  certain  helps  or  assist- 
ances, granted  to  men  in  common, 
to  enable  us  to  choose  the  path  of 
life ;  but,  according  to  the  former, 
our  hearts  being  by  nature  wholly 
depraved,  we  need  an  almighty  and 
invincible  Power  to  renew  them. 
See  Necessity. 

FREE  THINKER,  an  appel- 
lation given  to  those  persons  who 
deny  revelation  or  the  christian  re- 
ligion. One  of  the  most  admira- 
ble and  pointed  addresses  to  free- 
thinkers any  where  to  be  met  with, 
may  be  found  in  the  dedication 
to  Warburton's  Divine  Legation 
of  Moses,  where  these  gentlemen 
are  combated  with  abilities  worthy 
of  that  great  and  acute  author. 
See  also  an  admirable  paper  in 
the  Guardian,  No.  70  ;  and  article 
Deists. 

FRENCH  CHURCH.  See 
Church  Gallican. 

FRENCH  PROPHETS.  They 
first  appeared  in  Dauphiny  and  Vi- 
varais.  In  the  year  1688,  five  or  six 
hundred  Protestants  of  both  sexes 
gave  themselves  out  to  be  prophets, 
and  inspired  of  the  Holy  Ghost. 
They  soon  became  so  numerous, 
that  there  were  many  thousands  of 
them  inspired.  They  were  people 
of  all  ages  and  sexes  without  dis- 
tinction, though  the  greatest  part 
of  them  were  boys  and  girls  from 
six  or  seven  to  twenty-five  years  of 
age.  They  had  strange  fits,  which 
came  upon  them  with  tremblings 
and  faintings  as  in  a  swoon,  which 
made  them  stretch  out  their  arms 
and  legs,  and  stagger  several  times 
before  they  dropped  down.  They 


F  R  E 


302 


FRE 


struck  tli«-m3elves  with  their  hands, 
they  fell  on  their  backs,  shut  their 
eyes,  and  heaved  with  their  breasts. 
They  remained  awhile  in  trances, 
and,  coming  out  of  them  with 
twitchings,  uttered  all  which  came 
intp  their  mouths.  They  said  they 
sav/tlie  heavens  open,  the  angels, 
paradise,  and  hell.  Those  who  were 
just  on  the  point  of  receiving  the 
spirit  of  prophecy  dropped  down 
not  only  in  the  assemblies,  crying 
out  mercy ^  but  in  the  fields,  and  in 
their ov/n  houses.  The  leastof  their 
assemblies  made  up  four  or  five 
hundred,  and  some  of  them 
amounted  to  even  three  or  four 
thousand  persons.  When  the  pro- 
phets had  for  a  while  been  under 
agitations  of  body,  they  began  to 
prophesy.  The  burden  of  their 
prophecies  was,  Amend  your  lives; 
repent  ye :  the  end  of  all  things 
draws  nigh  I  The  hills  rebounded 
with  their  loud  cries  for  ftiercy, 
and  imprecations  against  the 
priests,  the  church,  the  pope,  and 
against  the  anti-christian  domi- 
nion, with  predictions  of  the  ap- 
proaching fall  of  popery.  All  they 
said  at  these  times  was  htard  and 
received  with  reverence  and  awe. 
In  the  year  1706,  three  or  four 
of  these  prophets  came  over  into 
England,  and  brought  their  pro- 
phetic spirit  along  v/ith  them, 
which  discovered  itself  in  the  same 
ways  and  manners,  by  ecstacies 
and  agitations,  and  inspirations 
under  them,  as  it  had  done  in 
France  ;  and  they  propagated  the 
like  spirit  to  others,  so  that  before 
the  year  was  out  there  were  two  or 
three  hundred  of  these  prgphets  in 
and  about  London,  of  both  sexes, 
of  all  ages  J  men,  women,  and  chil- 


dren :  and  they  had  delivered 
under  inspiration  four  or  five  hun- 
dred prophetic  v/arnings. 

The  great  things  they  pretended 
by  their  spirit  was,  to  give  warning 
of  the  near  approach  of  the  kingdom 
of  God^  the  happy  times  of  the 
churchy  the  millennium  state.  Their 
message  was  (and  they  were  to 
proclaim  it  as  heralds  to  the  Jews, 
and  every  nation  under  heaven, 
beginning  at  England),  that  the 
grand  jubilee,  the  acceptable  year 
of  the  Lord, the  accomplishment  of 
those  numerous  scriptures  con- 
cerning the  new  heaven  and  the  nezv 
earthy  the  kingdom  of  the  Messiah^ 
the  marriage  of  the  Lamb^  th.^  first 
resurrection^  or  the  new  Jerusalem 
descending  from  above^  were  now 
even  at  the  door ;  that  this  great 
operation  v/as  to  be  wrought  on  the 
part  of  man  by  spiritual  arms  only, 
proceeding  from  the  mouths  of 
those  who  should  by  inspiration, 
or  the  mighty  gift  of  the  Spirit,  be 
sent  forth  in  great  numbers  to 
labour  in  the  vineyard ;  that  this 
mission  of  his  servants  should  be 
witnessed  to  by  signs  and  wonders 
from  heaven,  by  a  deluge  of  judg- 
ments on  the  wicked  universally 
throughout  the  world,  as  famine, 
pestilence,  earthquakes,  &c. ;  that 
the  exterminating  angels  shall  root 
out  the  tares,  and  there  shall  re- 
main upon  earth  only  good  corn  ; 
and  the  woi'ks  of  men  being  thrown 
down,  there  shall  be  but  one  Lord, 
one  faith,  one  heart,  and  one  voice 
among  mankind.  They  declared 
that  all  the  great  things  they  spoke 
of  would  be  manifest  over  the 
v/hole  earth  within  the  term  of 
three  years. 

These  prophets  also  pretended 


FRI 


]0S 


F 


u 


to  the  gift  of  languages,  of  discern- 
ing the  secrets  of  the  heart,  the 
gift  of  ministration  of  the  same 
spirit  to  others  by  the  laying 
on  of  the  hands,  and  the  gift  of 
healing.  To  prove  they  were  re- 
ally inspired  by  the  Holy  Ghost, 
they  alleged  the  complete  joy  and 
satisfaction  they  experienced,  the 
spirit  of  prayer  which  was  poured 
forth  upon  them,  and  the  answer 
of  their  prayer  by  God. 

FRIAR  (brother),  a  term  com- 
mon to  the  monks  of  all  orders. 
In  a  moi'e  peculiar  sense,  it  is  re- 
strained to  such  monks  as  are  not 
priests  ;  for  those  in  orders  are  usu- 
ally dignified  with  the  appellation 
of  father. 

FRIENDSHIP,  a  mutual  at- 
tachment subsisting  between  two 
persons,  and  arising  not  merely 
from  the  general  principle  of  be- 
nevolence, from  emotions  of  gra- 
titude for  favours  received,  from 
views  of  interest,  nor  from  in- 
stinctive affection  or  animal  pas- 
sion ;  but  from  an  opinion  enter- 
tained by  each  of  them  that  the 
other  is  adorned  with  some  amia- 
ble or  respectable  qualities.  Vari- 
ous have  been  the  opinions  resppct- 
ing  friendship.  Some  have  asserted 
that  there  is  no  such  thing  in  the 
M'orld ;  others  have  excluded  it 
from  the  list  of  christian  virtues  ; 
while  others,  believing  the  possi- 
Ij^ility  of  its  existence,  suppose  that 
it  is  very  rare.  To  the  two  former 
Remarks  we  may  reply,  that  there  is 
every  reason  to  believe  that  there 
has  been,  and  is  such  a  thing  as 
friendship.  The  scriptures  pre- 
sent us  both  with  examples  of,  and 
precepts  concerning  it.  David  and 
Jonathan,  Paul  and  l^imoth}-,  our 
Lord  and  Lazarus, as  well  as  John, 


are  striking  instances  of  friend- 
ship. Solomon  exhorts  us  in  lan- 
guage so  energetic,  as  at  once 
shews  it  to  be  our  duty  to  cultivate 
it.  "  Thine  own  friend  and  thy  f?t- 
ther's  friend  forsake  not."  "  Make 
sure  of  thy  friend,  for  faithful  are 
the  v/ounds  of  a  friend,"  &c.  The 
genius  and  injunctions  of  the  chris- 
tian religion  seem  also  to  inculcate 
this  virtue  j  for  it  not  only  com- 
mands universal  benevolence  to 
men,  but  promotes  the  strongest 
love  and  friendship  between  those 
whose  minds  are  enlightened  by 
Divine  grace,  and  who  behold  in 
each  other  the  image  of  their  Di- 
vine Master.  As  friendship,  how- 
ever, is  not  enjoyed  by  every  one,. 
and  as  the  want  of  it  arises  often 
from  ourselves,  we  shall  here  sub- 
join, from  an  eminent  writer,  a 
few  remarks  by  way  of  advice  re- 
specting it.  1.  We  must  not  ex- 
pect perfection  in  any  with  whom 
we  contract  fellowship. — 2.  We 
must  not  be  hurt  by  differences  of 
opinion  arising  in  intercourse  with 
our  friends. — 3.  It  is  material  to 
the  preservation  of  friendship,  that 
openness  of  temper  and  obliging 
manners  on  both  hands  be  culti- 
vated.— 4.  We  must  not  listen 
rashly  to  evil  reports  against  our 
friends. — 5.  We  must  not  desert 
our  frie,nds  in  danger  or  distress. 
Blair'^s  Ser.^  ser.  17,  vol.  ivj  Bp. 
Porteus's  Ser.^  vol.  i,  ser.  15  ;  W. 
MelmotWs  Translation  of  Cicero's 
LxUus.,  in  a. Note. 

FRUGALITY,  is  the  keeping 
due  bounds  in  expences  ;  it  is  the 
happy  mean  between  parsimony 
on  the  one  hand,  and  prodigality 
on  the  other.  The  example  of 
Christ,  John  ri,  12.  the  injunc- 
tions of  God's  word,  Luke  xvi,  1. 


FUN 


304 


FUN 


Prov.  xviil,  9.  the  evil  effects  of 
inattention  to  it,  Luke  xv,  13. 
the  peace  and  comfort  which  arise 
from  it,  together  with  the  good 
which  it  enables  us  to  do  to  others, 
should  operate  as  motives  to  ex- 
cite us  to  the  practice  of  it.  Wood^s 
Ser.  on  Frugality^  1795  ;  Robin- 
soiUs  Mor.  Ex.^  ex.  3  ;  Ridgley's 
£ddy  of  Div.^  54S,  3d  edition. 

FUNERAL  RITES,  cere- 
monies accompanying  the  inter- 
ment or  burial  of  any  person. 

The  first  people  who  seemed  to 
have  paid  any  attention  to  their 
dead  were  the  Egyptians.  They 
took  great  care  in  embalming  their 
bodies,  and  building  proper  repo- 
sitories for  them.  This  gave  birth 
to  those  wonders  of  the  world,  the 
Egyptian  pyramids.  On  the  death 
of  any  person  among  theni,  the 
parents  and  friendship  put  on 
mournful  habits,  and  abstained 
from  all  banquets  and  entertain- 
ments. This  mourning  lasted  from 
fortyto  seventy  days,  during  which 
time  they  embalmed  the  body. 
Before  the  dead  were  allowed  to  be 
deposited  in  the  tomb,  they  under- 
went a  solemn  judgment.  If  any 
one  stepped  forth,  accused  them, 
and  proved  that  the  deceased  had 
led  an  evil  life,  the  judges  pro- 
nounced sentence,  and  the  body 
was  precluded  from  burial.  Even 
their  sovereigns  underwent  this 
judicature  ;  and  Diodorus  Siculus 
asserts,  that  many  kings  had  been 
deprived  of  the  honours  of  burial, 
and  that  the  terrors  of  such  a  fate 
had  a  salutary  influence  on  the  vir- 
tue of  their  kings. 

The  funeral  rites  among  the 
Hebrews  v/ere  solemn  and  mag- 
nificent. The  relations  and  friends 


rent  their  clothes  ;  and  it  was  usual 
to  bend  the  dead  person's  thumb 
into  the  hand,  and  fasten  it  in  tha:t 
posture  with  a  string,  because  the 
thumb  then  having  the  figure  of 
the  name  of  God,  they  thought 
the  devil  would  not  approach  it. 
They  made  a  funeral  oration  iat 
the  grave,  after  which  they  prayed ; 
then,  turning  the  face  of  the  de- 
ceased towards  heaven,  they  Said 
"  Go  in  peace." 

The  Greeks  used  to  put  a  piece 
of  money  into  the  mouth  of  the 
deceased,  which  was  thought  to 
be  the  fare  over  the  infernal  ri- 
ver :  they  abstained  from  ban- 
quets ;  tore,  cut,  or  shaved  their 
hair,  sometimes  throwing  them- 
selves on  the  ground,  and  rolling 
in  the  dust ;  beating  their  breasts, 
and  even  tearing  their  flesh  with 
their  nails. 

The  funeral  rites  among  the 
Romans  were  very  numerous. 
They  kept  the  deceased  seven 
days,  and  washed  him  every  day 
with  hot  water,and  sometimes  with 
oil,  if  possible  he  might  be  revived, 
in  case  he  were  only  in  a  slumber ; 
and  every  now  and  then  his  friends, 
meeting,  made  a  horrible  shout 
with  the  same  view ;  but  if  they 
found  he  did  not  revive,  he  was 
dressed  and  embalmed  M'ith  a  per- 
formance of  a  variety  of  singular 
ceremonies,  and  at  last  brought 
to  the  funeral  pile,  and  burnt ; 
after  which  his  ashes  were  gather- 
ed, inclosed  in  an  urn,  and  depo- 
sited in  the  sepulchre  or  tomb. 

The  ancient  christians  testified 
their  abhorrence  of  the  joagan  cus- 
tom of  burning  their  dead  ;  and 
always  deposited  the  body  entire 
in  the  ground;  and  it  was  usual  to 


FUN 


305 


FUT 


bestow  the  honour  of  embalming 
upon  the  martyrs,  at  least,  if  not 
upon  others.  They  prepared  tlie 
body  for  burial  by  washing  it 
with  water,  and  dressing  it  in  a  fu- 
neral attire.  This  was  performed 
By  near  relations,  or  persons  of 
such  dignity  as  the  circumstances 
of  the  deceased  required.  Psalm- 
ody, or  singing  of  psalms,  was  the 
great  ceremony  used  in  all  funeral 
processions  among  the  ancient 
christians. 

In  the  Romish  church,  when 
a  person  is  dead,  they  wash  the 
body,  and  put  a  crucifix  in  his 
hand.  At  the  feet  stands  a  ves- 
sel of  holy  water,  and  a  sprinkler, 
that  they  who  come  in  may 
sprinkle  both  themselves  and  the 
deceased.  In  the  mean  time  some 
priest  stands  by  the  corpse,  and 
prays  for  the  deceased  till  it  is 
laid  in  the  earth.  In  the  funeral 
procession  the  exorcist  walks  first, 
carrying  the  holy  water ;  next 
the  cross  bearer ;  afterwards  the 
rest  of  the  clergy ;  and,  last  of  all, 
the  officiating  priest.  They  all 
sing  the  jniserere^  and  some  other 
psalms ;  and  at  the  end  of  each 
psalm  a  requiem.  It  is  said,  that 
the  faces  of  deceased  laymen  must 
be  turned  towards  the  altar  when 
they  are  placed  in  the  church,  and 
those  of  the  clergy  towards  the 
people.  The  corpse  is  placed  in 
the  church,  surrounded  with  light- 
ed tapers.  After  the  office  for 
the  dead,  mass  is  said ;  then 
the  officiating  priest  sprinkles  the 
corpse  thrice  with  holy  water,  and 
as  often  throws  incense  on  it.  The 
body  being  laid  in  the  grave,  the 
friends   and   the  relations  of  the 

Vol.   r.  Rr 


deceased  sprinkle  the  grave  with 
holy  water. 

The  funeral  ceremonies  of  the 
Greek  church  are  much  the  same 
with  those  of  the  Latin.  It  needs 
only  to  be  observed,  that,  after  the 
funeral  service,  they  kiss  the  cru- 
cifix, and  salute  the  mouth  and 
forehead  of  the  deceased  ;  after 
which,  each  of  the  company  eats 
a  bit  of  bread,  and  drinks  a  glass 
of  wine  in  the  church,  wishing  the 
sold  a  good  repose,  and  the  afliict- 
ed  famil}''  all  consolation.  Bing^ 
Hani's  Antiq.^  b.  2  ;  Enc.  Brit.  ; 
Buxtorfs  Sijuag.^  p.  502. 

FUTURE  STATE,  a  term 
made  use  of  in  relation  to  the  ex^ 
istence  of  the  soul  after  death. 
That  there  is  such  a  state  of  ex- 
istence we  have  every  reason  to 
believe  ;  *'  for  if  we  suppose,"  says 
a  good  writer,  "  the  events  of  this 
life  tohave  no  reference  to  another, 
the  whole  state  of  man  becomes 
not  only  inexplicable,  but  contra^ 
dictory  and  inconsistent.  The 
powers  of  the  inferior  animals  are 
perfectly  suited  to  their  station. 
They  knov/  nothing  higher  than 
their'  present  condition.  In  gra- 
tifying their  appetites,  they  fulfil 
their  destiny,  and  pass  away.  Man, 
alone,  comes  forth  to  act  a  part 
which  carries  no  meaning,  and 
tends  to  no  end.  Endowed  with 
capacities  which  extend  far  be- 
yond his  present  sphere,  fitted  by 
his  rational  nature  for  running 
the  race  of  immortality,  he  is 
stopped  short  in  the  very  entrance 
of  his  course.  He  squanders  his 
activity  on  pursuits  which  he  dis- 
cerns to  be  vain.  He  languishes 
for  knowledge  which  is  placed  bf- 


FUT 


S06 


FUT 


yjond  his  reach.  He  thirsts  after 
a  happiness  which  he  is  doomed 
never  to  enjoy.  He  sees  and 
laments  the  disasters  of  his  state, 
and  yet,  upon  this  supposition,  can 
find  nothing  to  remedy  them.  Has 
the  eternal  God  any  pleasure  in 
sporting  himself  with  such  a  scene 
of  misery  and  folly  as  this  life 
(if  it  had  no  connexion  with  an- 
other)  must  exhibit  to  his  eye  ?  Did 
he  call  into  existence  this  magni- 
ficent universe,  adorn  it  with  so 
much  beauty  and  splendour,  and 
surround  it  with  those  glorious 
luminaries  vfhich  we  behold  in  the 
heavens,  only  that  some  genera- 
tions of  mortal  men  might  arise 
to  behold  these  vi'onders,  and  then 
disappear  for  ever  ?  How  un- 
suitable in  this  case  were  the  ha- 
bitation to  the  wretched  inhabi- 
tant !  Hov/  inconsistent  the  com- 
mencement of  his  being,  and  the 
mighty  preparation  of  his  powers 
and  faculties,  with  his  despicable 
end  !  How  contradictory,  in  fine, 
were  every  thing  which  concerns 
the  state  of  man,  to  the  wisdom 
and  perfection  of  his  Maker  ! 

But  that  there  is  such  a  state  is 
clear  from  many  passages  of  the 
New  Testament,  John  v,  24.  Acts 
vii,  9.  Rom.  viii,  10,  11.  2d  Cor. 
V,  1,  2.  Phil,  i,  21.  1st  Thess.  iv, 
14.  Istl^hes.  V,  10,  Luke  xvi,  22. 
Sec.  But  though  these  texts  prove 
the  point,  yet  some  have  doubted 
whether  there  be  any  where  in  the 
Old  Testament  any  reference  to  a 
future  state  at  all.  The  case,  it  is 
said,  appears  to  be  this  :  the  Mo- 
saic covenant  contained  no  pro- 
mises directly  relating,  to  a  future 
state  :  probabiy,  as   Dr.  V/arbur- 


ton  asserts,  and  argues  at  large, 
because   Moses  was  secure  of  an 
eyiial  providence^    and    therefore 
needed  not  subsidiary  sanctions  ta* 
ken  from  a  future  state,  without 
the  belief  of  which  the  doctrine  of 
an  universal  providence  cannot  or- 
dinarily be  vindicated,  nor  the  ge- 
neral sanctions  of  religion  secured^ 
But,  in  opposition  to  this   senti- 
ment, as  Doddridge  observes,  "  it 
is  evident  that  good  men,  even  be- 
fore  Moses,    were    animated  by 
views  of  a  future  state,  Heb.  xi, 
13,  16.  as  he  himself  plainly  was, 
24  to  26  verse  j  and  that  the  pro- 
mises of   heavenly   felicity  were 
contained  even   in    the    covenant 
made  with   Abraham,   which  the 
Mosaic  could  not  disannul.     Sucr 
ceeding  providences  also  confirm- 
ed  the    natural  arguments  in  its 
favour,  as  every  remarkable  in- 
terposition would  do ;  and  when 
general  promises  were   made   to 
the    obedient,  and  an  equal  pro- 
vidence relating  to  the  nation  esta- 
blished on  national  conformity  to 
the  Mosaic  institution,    and   not 
merely  to  the  general  precepts  of 
virtue ;  as  such  an  equal  providence 
would  necessarily  involve  man^y  of 
the  best  men  in  national  ruin,  at 
a  time  when,  by  preserving  their 
integrity  in  the  midst  of  general 
apostacy,  their   virtue  was   most 
conspicuous  ;   such  good  men,  in 
such  a  state,  would  have  vast  ad- 
ditional reasons  for  expecting  fu- 
ture rewards,  beyond  what  could 
arise  from  principles  common  to 
jthe  rest  of  mankind;  so  that  we 
cannot  wonder  that  we  find  in  the 
writings    of  the   prophets   many 
i  strong  expressions  of  such  an  ex- 


GAL 


507 


GEN 


pcctation,  particularly  Gen.  xlix, 
18.  Ps.  xvi,  9  to  11.  Ps.  xvii,  last 
ver.  Ps.  Ixxiii,  17,  27.  Eccl.  iii,  15, 
16.  &c.  Eccl.  vii^  12,  15.  Is.  iii, 
10,  11.  Ezek.  xviii,  19,  21.  Job 
xix,  23,  37.  Dan.  xii,  2.  Is.  xxxv, 
8.  Is.  xxvi,  19.  The  same  thing 
may  be  also  inferred  from  the  par- 
ticular promises  made  to  Daniel, 
Dan.  xii,  13.  to  Zerubbabel,  Hag* 
ii,  23.  and  to  Joshua,  the  high 
priest,  Zech.  iii,  7.  as  well  as  from 
those  historical  facts  recorded  in 
the  Old  Testament  of  the  murder 
of  Abel,  the  translation  of  Enoch 
and  Elijah,  the  death  of  Moses, 


and  the  story  of  the  witch  of  Eh- 
dor,  and  from  what  is  said  of  the 
appearance  of  angels  to,  and  their 
converse  with  good  men."  See 
articles  Intermediate  State, 
Resurrection,  and  Soul  ;  also 
Doddridge's  Lectures^  lee.  216  ; 
WarburtorCs  Divine  Legation  of 
Moses^  vol.  ii,  p.  553-568  ;  Dr. 
AddingtorHs  Dissertations  on  the 
Religious  Knowledge  of  the  ancient 
Jews  and  Patriarchs  ;  containing 
an  enquiry  into  the  evidences  of  their 
beliej  and  expectation  of  a  future 
state ;  BlaiPs  Ser,y  ser.  15,  vol.  i ; 
Robinson's  Claude^  vol.  i,  p.  132; 


G. 


GAIANITiE,  a  denomination 
which  derived  its  name  from  Gaian, 
abishop  of  Alexandria,  in  the  sixth 
century,  who  denied  that  Jesus 
Christ,  after  the  hypostatical  union, 
was  subject  to  any  of  the  infirmi- 
ties of  human  nature. 

GALILEANS,  a  sect  of  the 
Jews  which  arose  in  Judea  some 
years  after  the  birth  of  our  Saviour. 
They  sprang  from  one  Judas,  a 
native  of  Gaulam,  in  Upper  Gali- 
lee, upon  the  occasion  of  Augustus 
appointing  the  people  to  be  mus- 
tered, which  they  looked  upon  as 
an  instance  of  servitude  which  all 
true  Israelites  ought  to  oppose. 
They  pretended  that  God  alone 
should  be  owned  as  master  and 
lord,  and  in  other  respects  were 
of  the  opinion  of  the  Pharisees  ; 
but  as  they  judged  it  unlawful  to 
pray  for  infidel  princes,  they  se- 
parated themselves  from  the  rest; 
of  the  Jews,  and  performed  their  j 
sacrifices  apart.     As  our  Saviour ! 


and  his  apostles  were  of  Galilee, 
they  were  suspected  to  be  of  the 
sect  of  the  Galileans  ;  and  it  was 
on  this  principle,  as  St.  Jerome 
observes,  tiiat  the  Pharisees  laid  a 
snare  for  him,  asking.  Whether  it 
were  lawful  to  give  tribute  to 
C^ssar  ?  that  in  case  he  denied  it, 
they  might  have  occasion  of  ac- 
cusing him. 

GAZARES,  a  denomination 
which  appeared  about  1197  at  Ga- 
zare,  a  town  of  Dalmatia.  They 
held  almost  the  same  opinions  with 
the  Albigenses;  but  their  distin- 
guishing tenet  was,  that  no  human 
power  had  a  right  to  sentence  men 
to  death  for  any  crime  whatever. 

GEMARi\.     See  Talmud. 

GENERAL  CALL.  See 
Call-Calling. 
GENERATION  ETERNAL 
is  a  term  used  as  descriptive  of  the 
Father's  communicating  the  Di- 
vine Nature  to  the  Son.  The 
Father  is  snid  hv  some  divines  to 


508 


GEN 


have  produced  the  V/ord,  or  Son, 
from  all  eternity,  by  v/ay  of 
generation ;  on  which  occasion 
the  word  ge?ieration  raises  a  pecu- 
liar idea:  that  procession  which 
is  really  affected  in  the  way  of 
under  standing  is  called  gene- 
ration, because,  in  virtue  thereof, 
the  Word  becomes  like  to  Him 
from  Avhom  he  takes  the  original ; 
or,  as  St.  Paul  expresses  it,  the 
figure  or  image  of  his  substance  ; 
i.  e.  of  his  being  and  nature. 
And  hence  it  is,  they  say,  that 
the  second  person  is  called  the 
Son  ;  and  that  in  such  a  way  and 
manner  as  never  any  other  was,  is, 
or  can  be,  because  of  his  own  Di- 
vine natuiT,  he  being  the  true, 
proper,  and  natural  Son  of  God, 
begotten  by  him  before  all  worlds. 
Thus,  he  is  called  his  ovjn  Son^ 
Rom.  viii,  3.  his  onhj  begotten  SoJi^ 
John  iii,  16.  Many  have  at- 
tempted to  explain  the  manner 
of  this  generation  by  different  si- 
militude's ;  but- as  they  throw  lit- 
tle or  no  light  upon  the  subject, 
v,-e  shall  not  trouble  the  reader 
with  them.  Some,  however,  sup- 
pose that  the  term  Son  of  God 
refers  to  Christ  as  mediator  ;  and 
that  his  sonship  does  not  lie  in 
his  divine  or  human  nature,  sepa- 
rately considered,  but  in  the  union 
of  both  in  one  person.  See  Luke 
i,  35.  Matt,  iv,  3.  John  i,  49. 
]Matt.  xvi,  16.  Acts  ix,  20,  22. 
Rom.  i,  4.  It  is  observed,  that  it 
is  impossible  that  a  nature  pro- 
perb/  divine  should  be  begotten^ 
smce  beeettino;,  Avhatever  idea  is 
annexed  to  it,  inust  signify  some 
kind  of  production,  .derivation, 
andinferioj-ityj  consequently,  that 
M  hatcver  is  produced  must  have  a 


beginning,  and  whatever  had  a- 
beginning  was  not  from  eternity, 
as  Christ  is  said  to  be,  Is.  ix,  6. 
Col.  i.  1&,  17.  That  the  sonship 
of  Christ  respects  him  as  mediator 
will  be  evident,  if  we  compare 
John  X,  30.  with  John  xiv,  28.  In 
the  former  it  is  said,  "  I  and  my 
Father  are  one."  In  the  latter, 
"  My  Father  is  greater  than  I." 
These  declarations,  however  op- 
posite they  seem,  equally  respect 
him,  as  he  is  the  Son ;  but  if  his 
sonship  primarily  and  properly 
signify  the  generation  of  his  Di- 
vine nature,  it  will  be  difficult, 
if  not  impossible,  according  to 
that  scheme,  to  make  them  har- 
monize. Considered  as  a  distinct 
person  in  the  Godhead,  without 
respect  to  his  office  as  mediator, 
it  is  impossible,  that,  in  the  same 
view,  he  should  be  both  equal  and 
inferior  to  his  Father.  iTLgain ;  he 
expressly  tells  us  himself,  that 
"  the  Son  can  do  nothing  of  him- 
self;  that  the  Father  sheweth  him 
all  things  that  he  doeth  ;  and  that 
he  giveth  him  to  have  life  in  him- 
self," John  V,  19,  20,  26.  Which 
expressions,  if  applied  to  him  as 
God,  not  as  mediator,  will  reduce 
us  to  the  disagreeable  necessity  of 
subscribing  either  to  the  creed  of 
Arius,  and  maintain  him  to  be 
God  of  an  inferior  nature,  and 
thus  a  plurality  of  Gods,  or  to 
embrace  the  doctrine  of  Socinus, 
who  allov/s  hi^m  only  to  be  a  God 
by  office.  But  if  this  title  belong 
to  him  as  mediator,  every  diffi- 
culty is  removed.  And,  lastly, 
it  is  observed,  that  though  Jesus 
be  God,  and  the  attributes  of  eter- 
nal existence  ascribed  to  him,  yet 
J  the  tv'o  attributes,  eternal  and  son.. 


GEN 


309 


G  E  ^ 


are  not  once  expressed  in  the  same 
text  as  referring  to  eternal  gene- 
ration. See  article  Son  of  God  ; 
Owen  on  the  Person  of  Christ ; 
Pearson  on  the  Creed ;  Ridgely^s 
Body  of  Divinity^  p.  73,  76,  3d 
edition ;  GiWs  Divinity^  p.  205, 
vol.  i,  8vo  edition ;  Lambert'' s  Ser- 
mons^ ser.  13,  text  John  xi,  ^5  ; 
Hodson's  Essay  on  the  Eternal  Fi- 
liation of  the  Son  of  God ;  Watts''s 
Works^  vol.  V,  p.  77. 

GENEROSITY,  the  disposi- 
tion which  prompts  us  to  bestow 
favours  which  are  not  the  purchase 
of  any  particular  merit.  It  is  dif- 
ferent from  humanity.  Humanity 
is  an  exquisite  feeling  we  possess 
in  relation  to  others,  so  as  to 
grieve  for  their  sufferings,  resent 
tbeir  injuries,  or  to  rejoice  at  their 
prosperity ;  and  as  it  arises  from 
sympathy,  it  requires  no  great  self- 
denial,  or  self  command  ;  but  ge- 
nerosity is  that  by  which  we  are 
led  to  prefer  some  other  person 
*o  ourselves  and  to  sacrifice  any 
interest  of  our  own  to  the  interest 
of  another. 

GENIUS,  a  good  or  evil  spirit, 
or  daemon,  whom  the  ancients  sup- 
posed was  set  over  each  person  to 
direct  his  birth,  accompany  him 
in  his  life,  and  to  be  his  guard. 

Genius  signifies  that  aptitude 
Vv'^hich  a  man  naturally  possesses  to 
perform  well  and  easily  that  which 
others  can  do  but  indifferently,  and 
with  a  great  deal  of  pain. 

GENTILE,  in  matters  of  reli- 
gion, a  Pagan,  or  worshipper  of 
false  gods.  The  origin  of  this 
word  is  deduced  from  the  Jews, 
who  called  all  those  who  were  not 
of  their  name  □''"13  gojim,  i.  e. 
gentt'S-y  which  in  the  Greek  trans- 


lations of  the  Old  Testament  is 
rendered  rx  oPv«,  in  which  sense  it 
frequently  occurs  in  the  New  Tes- 
tament; as  in  Matth.  vi,  32,  "  All 
these  things  the  nations  or  Gentiles 
seek."  Whence  the  Latin  church 
also  nstd-gentes^  in  the  same  sense 
as  our  Gentiles,  especially  in  the 
New  Testament.  But  the  word 
gentes  soon  got  another  significa- 
tion, and  no  longer  meant  all  such 
as  were  not  Jews,  but  those  only 
who  were  neither  Jews  nor  Chris- 
tians,butfoUowed  the  superstitions 
of  the  Greeks  and  Romans,  &c.  In 
this  sense  it  continued  among  the 
christian  writers,  till  their  manner 
of  speech,  together  with  their  reli- 
gion, was  publicly,  and  by  autho- 
rity, received  in  the  empire,  when 
gentile^^  from  gentes^  came  into 
use  ;  and  then  both  words  had 
two  significations,  viz.  in  treatises 
or  laws  concerning  religion,  they 
signified  Pagans,  neither  Jews  nor 

1  Christians ;  and  in  civil  affairs 
they  were  used  for  all  such  as 
were  »ot  Romans.  See  Hea- 
then. 

GENTLENESS,  softness  or 
mildness  of  disposition  and  beha- 
viour. Little  as  this  disposition  is 
thought  of  by  many,  we  find  it 
considered  in  scripture  as  a  cha- 
racteristic of  the  true  christian. 
"The  wisdom  that  is  from  above," 
saith  St.  James,  "  is  gentle,"  ch. 
iii,  17.  "This  gentleness,  indeed, 
is  to  be  distinguished  from  passive 
tameness  of  spirit,'  and  from  unli- 
mited compliance  with  the  manners 
of  others.  That  passive  tameness, 
Vt'hich  submits  without  struggle  to 
every  encroachment  of  the  violent 
and  assuming,  forms  no  part  of 

|, christian  duty,  but,  on  the  contra- 


GEN 


SIO 


GIF 


ry,  is  destructive  of  general  hap- 
piness and  order.  That  unlimit- 
ed complaisance,  which  on  every 
occasion  falls  in  with  the  opinions 
and  manners  of  others,  is  so  far 
from  being  a  virtue,  that  it  is 
itself  a  vice,  and  the  parent  of 
many  vices.  It  overthrows  all 
steadiness  of  principle,  and  pro- 
duces that  sinful  conformity  with 
the  world  which  taints  the  v»hole 
character.  In  the  present  corrupt- 
ed state  of  hum.an  manners,  ahvays 
to  assent  and  to  comply,  is  the 
very  "•.vorst  maxim  we  can  adopt. 
True  gentleness,  therefore,  is  to 
be  carefully  distinguish'^d  from  the 
mean  spirit  of  cowards  and  the 
fav/ning  assent  of  sycophants.  It 
renounces  no  just  right  from  fear; 
it  gives  up  no  important  truth  from 
flattery ;  it  is,  indeed,  not  only 
consistent  with  a  firm  mind,  but 
it  necessarily  requires  a  manly 
spirit  and  a  fixed  principle,  in  or- 
der to  give  it  any  real  value.  It 
stands  opposed  to  harshness  and 
severity,  to  pride  and  arrogance, 
to  violence  and  oppression  ;  it  is 
properly  that  pnrt  of  charity  which 
makes  us  unwilling  to  give  pain  to 
any  of  our  brethren.  Compassion 
prompts  us  to  relieve  their  wants; 
forbearance  prevents  us  from  re- 
taliating their  injuries  ;  meekness 
restrains  cur  angry  passions  ;  can- 
dour our  severe  judgments  ;  but 
gentleness  corrects  v.hatever  is  of- 
fensive in  our  manners,  and,  by  a 
constant  train  of  humane  atten- 
tions, studies  to  alleviate  the  bur- 
den of  common  misery." 

GENUFLECTION,  the  act  of 
bov/ing  or  bending  the  knee,  or 
rather  of  kneeling  down.'  The 
Jesuit  Piosweyd,  in  his  Onomas- 


ticon,  shews  that  genuflecrton,  6r 
kneeling,  has  been  a  very  ancient 
custom  in  the  church,  and  even 
under  the  Old  Testament  dispen^ 
sation ;  and  that  this  practice  was 
observed  throughout  all  the  year, 
excepting  on  Sundays,  and  during 
the  time  from  Easter  to  Whit- 
suntide, when  kneeling  was  forbid- 
den by  the  council  of  Nice.  Others 
have  shewn,  that  the  custom  of 
not  kneeling  on  Sundays  had  ob- 
tained from  the  time  of  the  apos- 
tles, as  appears  from  St.  Irenseus 
and  Tertuliian  ;  and  the  Ethiopia 
church,  scrupulously  attached  to 
the  ancient  ceremonies,  still  retains 
that  of  not  kneeling  at  divine  ser* 
vice.  The  Russians  esteem  it  an 
indecent  posture  to  worship  God 
on  the  knees.  The  Jews  usually 
prayed  standing.  Baronius  is  of 
opinion  that  genuflection  was  not 
established  in  the  year  of  Christ 
58,  from  that  passage  in  Acts  xx, 
36.  where  St.  Paul  is  expressly 
mentioned  to  kneel  down  at  pray- 
er ;  but  Saurin  shews  that  nothing 
can  be  thence  concluded.  The  same 
author  remarks,  also,  that  the  pri- 
mitive christians  carried  the  prac- 
tice of  genuflection  so  far,  that 
some  of  them  had  worn  cavities 
in  the  floor  where  they  prayed: 
and  St.  Jerome  relates  of  St. 
James,  that  he  had  contracted  a 
hardness  on  his  knees  equal  to  that 
of  camels. 

GHOST  HOLY.     See  Holy 
Ghost. 

GIFT  OF  TONGUES,  an  abi- 
lity given  to  the  aposdes  of  readily 
and  intelligibly  speaking  a  variety 
of  languages  which  they  had  never 
learnt.  This  was  a  most  glorious 
and  important  attestation   of  tlie 


GLO 


311 


GNO 


gospel,  as  well  as  a  suitable,  and 
indeed  in  their  circumstances,  a 
necessary  furniture  for  the  mission 
for  which  the  apostles  and  their 
assistants  were  designed.  Nor  is 
there  any  reason,  with  Dr.  Middle- 
ton,  to  understand  it  as  merely  an 
occasional  gift,  so  that  a  person 
might  speak  a  language  most  flu- 
ently one  hour,  and  be  entirely  ig- 
norant of  it  the  next ;  which  nei- 
ther agrees  with  what  is  said  of 
the  abuse  of  it,  nor  would  have 
been  sufficient  to  answer  the  end 
proposed.  See  Acts  ii.  See  Gill 
and  Henry  in  hoc. ;  yortin^s  Re- 
marks^ vol.  i,  p.  15-21  ;  Essay  on 
the  Gift  of  Tongues ;  MiddletorHs 
Miscel.  JVorks,  vol.  ii,  p.  379  ; 
Doddridge's  Lect.^  lee.  141. 

GILBERTINES,  a  religious 
•order ;  thus  called  from  St.  Gilbert, 
of  Sempringham,  in  the  county  of 
Lincoln,  who  founded  the  same 
about  the  year  1148;  the  monks 
of  which  observed  the  rule  of  St. 
Augustine,  and  were  accounted 
canons,  and  the  nuns  that  of  St. 
Benedict.  The  founder  of  this 
order  erected  a  double  monastery, 
or  rather  two  different  ones,  con- 
tiguous to  each  other,  the  one  for 
men,  the  other  for  women,  but 
parted  by  a  very  high  wall.  St. 
Gilbert  himself  founded  thirteen 
monasteries  of  this  order,  viz. 
four  for  men  alone,  and  nine  for 
men  and  women  together,  which 
had  in  them  700  brethren,  and 
1500  sisters.  At  the  dissolution, 
there  were  about  twenty-five  hous- 
es of  this  order  in  England  and 
Wales. 

GLASSITES.      See    Sande- 

MANIANS. 

GLOJ^Y,  praise,  or  honour,  at- 


tributed  to  God,  in  ador>ation  or 
worship.  The  state  of  felicity 
prepared  for  the  righteous.  See 
Heaven. 

The  glory  of  God  is  the  mani- 
festation of  the  Divine  perfec- 
tions in  creation,  providence,  and 
grace.  We  may  be  said  to  give 
glory  to  God  when  we  confc- ss  our 
sins,  when  we  love  him  supreme- 
ly, when  we  comn^it  ourselves  to 
him,  are  zealous  in  his  service, 
improve  our  talents,  walk  humbly, 
thankfully,  and  cheerfully  before 
him,  and  recommend,  proclaim, 
or  set  forth  his  excellt^ncies,  to 
others,  Jos.  vii,  19.  Gal.  ii,  20. 
John  XV,  8.  Ps.  1,  23.  Mat.  v,  16. 

GNOSIMACHI,aname  which 
distinguished  those  in  the  seventh 
century  who  were  professed  ene- 
mies to  the  Gnosis,  i.  e.  the 
studied  knowledge  or  science  of 
Christianity,  which  they  rested 
wholly  on  good  works  ;  calling  it 
a  useless  labour  to  seek  for  know- 
ledge in  the  scripture.  In  short, 
they  contended  for  the  practice  of 
morality  in  all  simplicity,  and 
blamed  those  who  aimed  at  im- 
proving and  perfecting  it  by  a 
deeper  knovvrledge  and  insight  into 
the  doctrines  and  mysteries  of  re- 
ligion. The  Gnosimachi  were  the 
very  reverse  of  the  Gnostics. 

GNOSTICS  (from  r.a»^/)coj, 
knowing),  ancit-nt  heretics,  famous 
from  the  first  rise  of  christianit\', 
principally  in  the  east.  It  appears 
from  several  passages  of  scripture, 
particularly  1st  John  ii,  18.  1st 
Tim.  vi,  20.  Col.  ii,  8.  that  many 
persons  were  infected  with  the 
Gnostic  heresy  in  the  first  centu- 
ry ;  though  the  sect  did  not  ren- 
der itself  conspicuous,  either  for 


GNO 


312 


GNO 


numbers  or  reputation,  before  the 
time  of  Adrian,  when  some  writers 
erroneously  date  its  rise.  The 
name  was  adopted  by  this  sect,  on 
the  presumption  that  they  were 
the  only  persons  who  had  the  true 
knowledge  of  Christianity.  Ac- 
cordingly they  looked  on  all  other 
christians  as  simple,  ignorant,  and 
barbarous  persons,  who  explained 
and  interpreted  the  sacred  writings 
in  a  low,  literal,  and  unedifying 
signification.  At  first,  the  Gnos- 
tics were  the  only  philosophers 
and  wits  of  those  times,  who  form- 
ed for  thei^iselves  a  peculiar  system 
of  theology,  agreeable  to  the  phi- 
losophy of  Pythagoras  and  Plato , 
to  which  they  accommodated  all 
their  interpretations  of  scripture. 
But  Gnostics  afterwards  became 
a  generical  name,  comprehend- 
ing divers  sects  and  parties  of 
heretics,  who  rose  in  the  first  cen- 
turies ;  and  who,  though  they 
differed  among  themselves  as  to 
circumstances,  yet  all  agreed  in 
some  common  principles.  They 
corrupted  the  doctrine  of  the  gos- 
pel by  a  profane  mixture  of  the 
tenets  of  the  oriental  philosophy, 
concerning  the  origin  of  evil  and 
the  creation  of  the  world,  with  its 
divine  truths.  Such  were  the 
Valentinians,  Simonians,  Carpo- 
x:ratians,  Nicolaitans,  &c. 

Gnostics  sometimes  also  occurs 
in  a  good  sense,  in  the  ancient 
ecclesiastical  writers,  particularly 
Clemens  Alexandrinus,  who,  in 
the  person  of  his  Gnostic,  de- 
scribes the  characters  and  qualities 
of  a  perfect  christian.  This  point 
he  labours  in  the  seventh  book  of 
his  Stromata^  where  he  shews  that 
iioiie  but  the  Gnostic,  or  learned! 


person,  has  any  true  religion.  He 
afnrms,  that,  were  it  possible  for 
the  knowledge  of  God  to  be  se- 
parated from  eternal  salvation, 
the  Gnostic  would  make  no  scruple 
to  choose  the  knowledge ;  and 
that  if  God  would  promise  him 
impunity  in  doing  of  any  thing  he 
has  once  spoken  against,  or  offer 
him  heaven  on  those  terms,  he 
would  never  alter  a  whit  of  his 
measures.  In  this  sense  the  father 
uses  Gnostics,  in  opposition  to  the 
heretics  of  the  same  name ;  af- 
firming, that  the  true  Gnostic  is 
grown  old  in  the  study  of  the  holy 
scripture,  and  that  he  preserves 
the  orthodox  doctrine  of  the  apos- 
tles, and  of  the  church  ;  whereas 
the  false  Gnostic  abandons  all 
the  apostolical  traditions,  as  ima- 
gining himself  wiser  than  the  apos- 
tles. 

Gnostics  was  sometimes  also 
more  particularly  used  for  the 
successors  of  the  Nicolaitans  and 
Carpocratians,  in  the  second  cen- 
tury, upon  their  laying  aside  the 
names  of  the  first  authors.  Such 
as  would  be  thoroughly  acquainted 
with  all  tiieir  doctrines,  reveries, 
and  visions,  may  consult  St.  Ire- 
nauSj  Tertullian^  Clemens  .Alexan- 
drinus^ Origen^  and  St.  Ep'ipha- 
nius  ;  particularly  the  first  of  these 
writers,  who  relates  their  senti- 
ments at  large,  and  confutes  them. 
Indeed,  he  dwells  more  on  the 
Valentinians  than  any  other  sect 
of  Gnostics  ;  but  he  shews  the  ge- 
neral principles  whereon  all  their 
mistaken  opinions  were  founded, 
and  the  method  they  followed  in 
explaining  scripture.  He  accuses 
them  of  introducing  into  religion 
certain  vain    and   ridici^sous    ge- 


GNO 


313 


GNO 


healogies,  i.  e.  a  kind  of  divine 
processions  or  emanations,  which 
had  no  other  foundation  but 
in  their  own  wild  imagination. 
The  Gnostics  confessed,  that  these 
seons,  or  emanations,  were  no 
where  expressly  delivered  in  the 
sacred  writings  ;  but  insisted  that 
Jesus  Christ  had  intimated  them  in 
parables  to  such  as  could  under- 
stand them.  They  built  their 
theology  not  only  on  the  gospels 
and  the  epistles  of  St.  Paul,  but 
also  on  the  law  of  Moses  and  the 
prophets.  These  last  were  pecu- 
liarly serviceable  to  them,  on 
account  of  the  allegories  and  al- 
lusions with  which  they  abound, 
which  are  capable  of  different  in- 
terpretations ;  though  their  doc- 
trine concerning  the  creation  of 
the  world  by  one  or  more  inferior 
beings  of  an  evil  or  imperfect  na- 
ture led  them  to  deny  the  Divine 
authority  of  the  books  of  the  Old 
Testament,  which  contradictedthis 
idle  fiction,  and  filled  them  with  an 
abhorrence  of  Moses  and  the  reli- 
gion he  taught ;  alleging,  that  he 
was  actuated  by  the  malignant  au- 
thor of  this  world,  who  consulted 
his  own  glory  and  authority,  and 
not  the  real  advantage  of  men. 
Their  persuasion  that  evil  resided 
in  matter,  as  its  centre  and  source, 
made  them  treat  the  body  with 
contempt,  discourage  marriage, 
and  reject  the  doctrine  of  the  re- 
surrection of  the  body,  and  its 
reunion  with  the  immortal  spirit. 
Their  notion,  that  malevolent  ge- 
nii presided  in  nature,  and  occa- 
sioned diseases  and  calamities, 
wars  and  desolations,  induced 
them  to  apply  themselves  to  the 
study  of  magic,  in  order  to  weaken 
Vol..   1.  ■  S  s 


the  powers  or  suspend  the  influ- 
ence of  their  malignant  agents. 
The  Gnostics  considered  Jesus 
Christ  as  the  Son  of  God,  and  in- 
ferior to  the  Father,  who  came 
into  the  world  for  the  rescue  and 
happiness  of  miserable  mortals, 
oppressed  by  matter  and  evil  be- 
ings; but  they  rejected  our  Lord's 
humanity,  on  the  principle  that 
every  thing  corporeal  is  essentially 
and  intrinsically  evil ;  and  there- 
fore the  greatest  part  of  them  de- 
nied the  reality  of  his  sufferings. 
They  set  a  great  value  on  the  be- 
ginning of  the  gospel  of  St.  John, 
where  they  fancied  they  saw  a 
great  deal  of  their  seons,  or  ema- 
nations, under  the  terms,  theruordy 
the  life,  the  light,  &c.  They  di- 
vided all  nature  into  three  kinds 
of  beings,  viz.  hylicy  or  material ; 
psychic,  or  animal ;  and  pneumatic^ 
or  spiritual.  On  the  like  princi- 
ple they  also  distinguished  three 
sorts  of  men  ;  material,  animal, 
and  spiritual.  The  first,  who  were 
material,  and  incapable  of  know- 
ledge, inevitably  perished,  both 
soul  and  body  ;  the  third,  such  as 
the  Gnostics  themselves  pretended 
to  be,  were  all  certainly  saved; 
the  psychic,  or  animal,  who  were 
the  middle  betv/een  the  other  two, 
were  capable  either  of  being  saved 
or  damned,  accoi-ding  to  their 
good  or  evil  actions.  With  re- 
gard to  their  moral  doctrines  and 
conduct,  tlr-y  were  much  divided. 
The  greatest  part  of  this  sect 
adopted  very  austere  rules  of  life, 
recommended  rigorous  abstinence, 
and  prescribed  severe  bodily  mor- 
tifications, with  a  view  of  purify- 
ing and  exalting  the  mind.  How- 
ever, some  maintained  that  there 


GOD 


314 


GOD 


was  no  moral  difFerence  in  human 
actions ;  and  thus,  confounding 
right  with  w^rong,  they  gave  a 
loose  rein  to  all  the  passions, 
and  Asserted  the  innocence  of  fol- 
lowing blindly  all  their  motions, 
and  of  living  by  their  tumultuous 
dictates.  They  supported  their 
opinions  and  practice  by  various 
authorities :  some  referred  to  fic- 
titious and  apocryphal  writings 
of  Adam,  Abraham,  Zoroaster, 
Christ,  and  his  apostles;  others 
boasted  that  they  had  deduced  their 
sentiments  from  secret  doctrines  of 
Christ,  concealed  from  the  vulgar ; 
others  affirmed  that  they  arrived 
at  superior  degrees  of  wisdom  by 
an  innate  vigour  of  mind  ;  and 
others  asserted  that  they  were  in- 
structed in  these  mysterious  parts 
of  theological  science  byTheudas, 
a  disciple  of  St.  Paul,  and  by 
Matthias,  one  of  the  friends  of 
our  Lord.  The  tenets  of  the 
ancient  Gnostics  were  revived  in 
Spain,  in  the  fourth  century,  by  a 
sect  called  the  Priscillianists.  At 
length  the  name  Gnostic^  which 
originally  was  glorious,  became 
infamous,  by  the  idle  opinions 
and  dissolute  lives  of  the  persons 
who  bore  it. 

GOD,  the  self-existent,  infinite- 
ly perfect,  and  infinitely  good  be- 
ing who  created  and  preserves  all 
things  that  have  existence.  As 
the  Divine  Being  possesses  a  na- 
ture far  beyond  the  comprehen- 
sion of  any  of  his  creatures,  of 
course,  that  nature  is  inexplica- 
ble. '"'•  All  our  knowledge  of 
invisible  objects  is  obtained  by 
analogy  ;  that  is,  by  the  resem- 
blance which  they  bear  to  visible 
obiects  ;  but  as  thei'e  is  in  nature 


no  exact  resemblance  of  the  na- 
ture of  God,  an  attempt  to 
explain  the  Divine  nature  is 
absurd  and  impracticable.  All 
similitudes,  therefore,  which  are 
used  in  attempting  to  explain  it 
must  be  rejected."  Yet,  though 
we  cannot  fully  understand  his 
nature,  there  is  something  of  him 
we  may  know.  He  hath  been 
pleased  to  discover  his  perfections, 
in  a  measure,  by  the  works  of  crea- 
tion and  the  scriptures  of  truth  ; 
these,  therefore,  we  ought  to  study, 
in  order  that  we  may  obtain  the 
most  becoming  thoughts  of  him. 
For  an  accouiit  of  the  various  at- 
tributes or  perfections  of  God,  the 
reader  is  referred  to  those  articles 
in  this  work. 

There  are  various  names  given 
to  the  Almighty  in  the  scriptures, 
though,  properly  speaking,  he  can 
have  no  name ;  for  as  he  is  incom- 
prehensible, he  is  not  nominable  j 
and  being  but  one,  he  has  no  need 
of  a  name  to  distinguish  him  j 
nevertheless,  as  names  are  given 
him  in  the  scripture,  to  assist  our 
ideas  of  his  greatness  and  per- 
fection, they  are  worthy  of  our 
consideration.  These  names  are, 
£/,  which  denotes  him  the  strong 
and  powerful  God,  Gen.  xvii.  1. 
Eloah^  which  represents  him  as 
the  only  proper  object  of  wor- 
ship, Psal.  xlv,  6,  7.  ShaddoT., 
which  denotes  him  to  be  all-suffi- 
cient and  all-mighty,  Exod.  vi,  3. 
Hhkeljon^  which  represents  his  in- 
comparable excellency,  absolute 
supremacy  over  all,  and  his  pe- 
culiar residence  in  the  highest 
heavens.  Psalm  1,  11.  Adon, 
which  makes  him  the  great  con- 
nector, supporter,  lord,  and  jnclge. 


GOD 


31- 


GOO 


of  all  creatures,  Psal.  ex,  I.  Jah^ 
which  may  denote  his  self-exist- 
ence, and  giving  of  being  to  his 
creatures,  or  his  infinite  comeli- 
ness, and  answerableness  to  him- 
self, and  to  the  happiness  of  his 
creatures,  Exod.  xv,  2.  Ehjeh^  I 
<7m,  or  /  will  be^  denotes  his  self- 
existence,  absolute  independency, 
immutable  eternity,  and  all-suffici- 
ency, to  his  people,  Exod.  iii,  14. 
Jehovah^  which  denotes  his  self- 
existence,  absolute  independency, 
unsuccessive  eternity,  and  his  ef- 
fectual and  marvellous  giving  of 
being  toliis  creatures,  and  fulfill- 
ing his  promises.  Gen.  ii,  4,  &c. 

In  the  New  Testament,  God  is 
called  Kurios,  or  Lord,  which  de- 
notes his  self-existence,  and  his 
establishment  of,  and  authority 
over  all  things  ;  and  Theos^  which 
represents  him  as  the  maker,  per- 
vader,  and  governing  observer  of 
the  miiversc. 

GODFATHERS  AND  GOD- 
MOTHERS, persons  who,  at  the 
baptism  of  infants,  answer  for  their 
future  conduct,  and  solemnly  pro- 
mise that  they  will  renounce  the  de- 
vil and  all  his  works,  and  follow  a 
lifeof  piety  and  virtue :  and  by  these 
means  lay  themselves  under  an  in- 
dispensable obligation  to  instruct 
them,and  watch  over  their  conduct. 
GODLINESS,  strictly  taken, 
is  right  worship  or  devotion  j  but 
in  general  it  imports  the  whole  of 
practical  religion,  1st  Tim.  iv,  8. 
2d  Pet.  i,  6.  It  is  difficult,  as 
Saurin  observes,  to  include  an  ade- 
quate idea  of  it  in  what  is  called  a 
definition.  It  supposes  knowledge, 
veneration,  affection,  dependance, 
submission,  gratitude,  and  obedi- 
jcnce ;  or  it  may  be  reduced  to 


these  four  ideas  :  "  knoxi'ledpt  in 
the  mmd,  by  which  it  is  distin- 
guished from  the  visions  of  the  su- 
perstitious ;  rectitude  in  the  con- 
science, that  distinguishes  it  from 
hypocrisy  ;  sacrifice  in  the  life,  or 
renunciation  of  the  world,  by  which 
it  is  distinguished  from  the  un- 
meaning obedience  of  him  who 
goes  as  a  happy  constitution  leads 
him  ;  and,  lastly,  zecd  in  the  heart, 
which  differs  from  the  languish- 
ing emotions  of  the  lukewarm." 
The  advantages  of  this  disposition 
are  honour,  peace,  safety,  useful- 
ness, support  in  death,  and  pro- 
spect of  glory ;  or,  as  the  apostle 
sums  up  all  in  a  few  words,  "  it 
is  profitable  unto  all  things^  hav- 
ing the  promise  of  the  life  that 
now  is,  and  of  that  which  is  to 
come."  1st  Tim.  iv,  8.  SaiirirCs 
Serm.^  vol.  v,  ser.  3,  Eng.  trans.; 
Barroiu's  Works^  vol.  i,  p.  9 ;  Scott^s 
Christian  Life;  ScoiigaPs  Life  of 
God  in  the  Soul  of  Man. 

GOOD,  in  general,  is  whatever 
increases  pleasure,  or  diminishes 
pain  in  us  ;  or,  which  amounts  to 
the  same,  whatever  is  able  to  pro- 
cure or. preserve  to  us  the  posses- 
sion of  agreeable  sensations,  and 
remove  those  of  an  opposite  na- 
ture. iWbrrt/^oot/ denotes  the  right 
conduct  of  the  several  senses  and 
passions,  or  their  just  proportion 
and  accommodation  to  -their  re- 
spective objects  and  relations. 

Physical  good  IS  that  which  has  - 
either  generally,  or  for  any  parti- 
cular  end,   such  qualities  as  are 
expected  or  desired. 

GOOD  FRIDAY,  a  fast  of  the 
christian!  church,  in  memory  of 
the  suiferings  and  death  of  Jesus 
Christ.  It  is  observed  on  the  Fricbv 


/ 


GOO 


-^16 


COS 


in  Passion  Week,  and  it  is  called, 
by  way  of  eminence,  good',  be- 
cause of  the  good  effects  of  our 
Saviour's  sufferings.  Among  the 
Saxons  it  was  called  Long  Friday, 
but  for  what  reason  does  not  ap- 
pear, except  on  account  of  the 
long  fasting  and  long  offices  then 
used.     See  Holy  Days. 

GOODNESS,  the  fitness  of  a 
fhingto  produce  any  particular  end. 
Perfection,  kindness,  benevolence. 
GOODNESS  OF  GOD,  relates 
to  the  absolute  perfection  of  his 
own  nature,  and  his  kindness 
manifested  to  his  creatures.  Good- 
ness, says  Dr.  Gill,  is  essential  to 
God,  without  which  he  would  not 
be  God,  Exod.  xxxiii,  19.  Exod. 
xxxiv,  6,  7.  Goodness  only  be- 
longs to  God ;  he  is  solely  good, 
Matt,  xix,  17.  and  all  the  good- 
ness found  in  creatures  are  only 
emanations  of  the  divine  good- 
ness. Ke  is  the  chief  good  ;  the 
sum  and  substance  of  all  felicity, 
Ps.  cxliv,  12,  15.  Ps.  Ixxiii,  25. 
Ps.  iv,  G,  7.  There  is  nothing  but 
goodness  in  God,  and  nothing  but 
goodness  comes  from  him,  1st 
John,  i,  5.  James  i,  13,  14.  He  is 
infinitely  good  ;  finite  minds  can- 
not comprehend  his  goodness, 
Rom.  xi,  2>5^  2,Q.  He  is  imrtiutably 
and  unchangeably  good,  Zeph.  iii, 
17.  The  goodness  of  God  is  com- 
municative and  diffusive,  Ps,  cxix, 
68.  Ps.  xxxiii,  5.  With  respect  to 
the  objects  of  it,  it  maybe  consid- 
ered as  general  and  special.  His 
general  goodness  is  seen  in  all  his 
creatures  ;  yea,  in  the  inanimate 
creation,  the  sun,  the  earth,  and 
all  his  works  ;  and  in  the  govern- 
ment, support,  and  protection  of 
^he  world  at  large,  Ps.  xxxvi,  6. 


Ps.  cxlv.  His  special  goodness 
relates  to  angels  and  saints.  To 
angels,  in  creating,  confirming, 
and  making  them  what  they  are. 
To  saints,  in  election,  calling,  jus- 
tification, adoption,  sanctification, 
perseverance,  and  eternal  glorifi- 
cation. GilPs  Body  of  Div.^  v.  i, 
p.  133,  Oct.  ed. ;  Charnoclis  Works, 
V.  i,  p.  574  ;  Paley^s  Nat.  Theol.^ 
ch.  26  ;  S'oid/i's  admirable  Sermon 
on  this  Subject^  vol.  viii,  ser.  3  ; 
Tillotson's  Serm.^  s^r.  143,  144, 
145,  146  ;  Abernethy'' s  Serm.^  vol. 
ii,  No.  2. 

GOSPEL,  the  revelation  of  the 
grace  of  God  to  fallen  man  through 
a  mediator.  It  is  taken  also  for 
the  history  of  the  life,  actions, 
death,  resurrection,  ascension,  and 
doctrine  of  Jesus  Christ.  The  word 
is  Saxon  and  of  the  same  import 
with  the  Latin  evangelitim,  which 
signifies  glad-tidings  orgoodnews. 
It  is  called  the  gospel  of  his  graccy 
because  it  flows  from  his  free  love, 
Acts  XX,  24.  The  gospel  of  the 
kingdom^  ns  it  treats  of  the  king- 
doms of  grace  and  glory.  The 
gospel  of  Christy  because  he  is  the 
author  and  subject  of  it,  Rom.  1, 
16.  "^rht  gospel  of  peace  and  sal- 
vation^ as  it  pi'omotes  our  present 
comfort,  and  leads  to  eternal 
glory,  Eph.  i,  13.  Eph.  vi,  15. 
The  glorious  gospel^  as  in  it  the 
glorious  perfections  of  Jehovah 
are  displayed,  2d  Cor.  iv,  4.  The 
everlasting  gospel,  as  it  was  de- 
signed from  eternity,  is  permanent 
in  time,  and  the  effects  of  it  eter- 
nal. Rev.  xiv,  6.  There  are  about 
thirty  or  forty  apocryphal  gos- 
pels ;  as  the  gospel  of  St.  Peter, 
of  St.  Andrew,  of  St.  Barnabas, 
tlie  eternal  go-^peJ,    &c.  Src.  hc.\ 


GO  S 


317 


GRA 


but  they  were  never  received  by 
the  christian  chut-ch,  being  evi- 
dently fabulous  and  trifling.  See 
Christianity. 

GOSPEL  CALL.    See  Calling. 

GOSPEL  A  LAW.  It  has 
been  disputed  whether  the  gospel 
.consists  merely  of  promises,  or 
whether  it  can  in  any  sense  be  call- 
ed a  law.  The  answer  plainly  de- 
pends upon  adjusting  the  meaning 
of  the  words  gospel  ?lx\6.  lazv:  if  the 
gospel  be  taken  for  the  declaration 
God  has  made  to  men  by  Christ, 
concerning  the  manner  in  which  he 
will  treat  them,  and  the  conduct 
he  expects  from  them,  it  is  plain 
that  this  includes  commands,  and 
even  threatenings,  as  well  as  pro- 
mises ;  but  to  define  the  gospel  so, 
as  only  to  express  the  favourable 
part  of  that  declaration,  is  Indeed 
taking  the  question  for  granted, 
and  confining  the  word  to  a  sense 
much  less  extensive  than  it  often 
has  in  scripture :  compare  Rom.  ii, 
16.  2d  Thess.  i,  8.  1st  Tim.  i,  10, 
Hi  and  it  is  certain,  that,  if  the 
gospel  be  put  for  all  the  parts  of 
the  dispensation  taken  in  connex- 
ion one  with  another,  it  may  well 
be  called,  on  the  whole,  a  good 
message.  In  like  manner  the  ques- 
tion, whether  the  gospel  be  a  law 
or  not,  is  to  be  determined  by  the 
definition  of  a  law  and  of  the  gos- 
pel, as  above.  If  law  signifies,  as 
it  generally  does,  the  discovery  of 
the  will  of  a  superior,  teaching 
what  he  requires  of  those  under 
his  government,  with  the  intima- 
tion of  his  intention  of  dispensing 
rewards  and  punishments,  as  this 
rule  of  their  conduct  is  observed 
or  neglected;  in  this  latitude  of 
expression,  it  is  plain,  from  the 


proposition,  that  the  gospel,  takea 
for  the  declaration  made  to  men 
by  Christ,  is  a  law^  as  in  scripture 
it  is  sometimes  called,  James  i, 
25.  Rom.  iv.  15.  Rom.  viii,  2; 
but  if  law  be  taken,  in  the  greatest 
rigour  of  the  expression,  for  such 
a  discovery  of  the  will  of  God, 
and  our  duty,  as  contains  in  it  no 
intimation  of  our  obtaining  the 
Divine  favour  otherwise  than  by  a 
perfect  and  universal  conformity 
to  it,  in  that  sense  the  gospel  is 
not  a  law.  See  NeonomiAns. 
Witsius  on  Cov.^  voh  iii,  ch.  1  ; 
Doddridge's  Lectures^  lect.  172; 
Watts^s  Orthodoxy  and  Charityy 
essav  2. 

GOVERNMENT  OF  GOD, 
is  the  disposal  of  his  creatures,  and 
all  events  relative  to  them,  ac- 
cording to  his  infinite  justice, 
power,  and  wisdom.  His  moral 
government  is  his  rendering  to 
every  man  according  to  his  actions,- 
considered  as  good  or  evil.  See 
Dominion  and  Sovereignty. 

GRACE.  There  are  various 
senses  in  which  this  word  is  u§ed 
in  scripture ;  but  the  general  idea 
of  it,  as  it  relates  to  God,  is  his  free 
favour  and  love.  As  it  respects 
men,  it  Implies  the  happy  state  of 
reconciliation  and  favour  with  God 
wherein  the}'^  stand,  and  the  holy 
endowments,  qualities,  or  habits 
of  faith,  hope,  love,  &c.,  which 
they  possess.  Divines  have  distin- 
guished grace  into  common  or  ge- 
neral^ special  or  particular.  Com- 
mon grace^  if  it  may  be  so  called, 
is  what  all  men  have  ;  as  the  light 
of  nature  and  reason,  convictions 
of  conscience,  &c.,  Rom.  ii.  4.  1st 
Tim.  iv,  10.  Special  grace^  is  that 
which  is  peculiar  to  some  people 


GRA 


318 


GRA 


only;  such  as^decting,  redeeming, 
justifying,pardoning,  adopting,  es- 
tablishing, and  sanctifying  grace, 
Horn,  viii,  30.  This  special  grace  is 
by  some  distinguished  into  imput- 
ed and  inherent ;  imputed  grace 
consists  in  the  holiness,  obedience, 
and  righteousness  of  Christ,  impu- 
ted to  us  for  our  justification ;  inhe- 
rent grace  is  what  is  wrought  in  the 
heart  by  the  Spirit  of  God  in  re- 
generation. Grace  is  also  said  to 
be  irresistible.^  ejicacious^  and  vic- 
torious ;  not  but  what  there  are  in 
human  nature,  in  the  first  moments 
of  conviction,  some  struggles,  op- 
position, or  conflict ;  but  by  these 
terms  we  are  to  understand,  that, 
in  the  end,  victory  declares  fbr  the 
grace  of  the  gospel.  There  have 
been  many  other  distinctions  of 
grace  ;  but  as  they  are  of  too  fri- 
volous a  nature,  and  are  now 
obsolete,  they  need  not  a  place 
here.  Gro'wth  in  grace  is  the 
progress  we  make  in  the  divine 
life.  It  discovers  itself  by  an  in- 
crease of  spiritual  light  and  know- 
ledge ;  by  our  renouncing  self,  and 
depending  more  upon  Christ ;  by 
growing  more  spiritual  in  duties  ; 
by  being  more  humble,  submissive, 
and  thankful ;  by  rising  superior  to 
the  corruptions  of  our  nature,  and 
finding  the  power  of  sin  more 
weakened  in  us  ;  by  being  less  at- 
tached to  the  world,  and  possess- 
ing more  of  a  heavenly  disposi- 
tion. M^Laurin's  Essai/s^  essay  o; 
Giirs  Body  ofDiv..,  vol.  i,  p.  118; 
Doddridge's  Lect.y  part  viii,  prop. 
1 39  ;  JPiJke  and  Jlayward^^  Cases  of 
Conscience ;  Saurin  on  1st  Cor.  ix, 
26,  27,  vol.  iv ;  Booths  Reign  of 
Grace. 
GRACE  AT  MEALS,  a  short'' 


prayer,  imploring  the  Divine  bles- 
sing on  our  food,  and  expressive 
of  gratitude  to  God  for  supplying 
our  necessities.  The  propriety  of 
this  act  is  evident  from  the  Divine 
command,  1st  Thes.  v,  18. 1st  Cor. 
X,  31.  1st  Tim.  iv,  5.  From  the 
conduct  of  Christ,  Mark  viii,  6,  7. 
From  reason  itself;  not  to  mention 
that  it  is  a  custom  practised  by 
most  nations,  and  even  not  neg- 
lected by  heathens  themselves. 
The  English,  however,  seem  to  be 
very  deficient  in  this  duty. 

As  to  the  manner  in  which  it 
ought  to  be  performed,  as  Dr. 
Watts  observes,  we  ought  to  have 
a  due  regard  to  the  occasion,  and 
the  persons  present ;  the  neglect  of 
which  hath  been  attended  with  in'- 
decencies  and  indiscretions.  Some 
have  used  themselves  to  mutter  a 
few  words  with  so  low  a  voice,  as 
though  by  some  secret  charm  they 
were  to  consecrate  the  food  alone, 
and  there  was  no  need  of  the  rest 
to  join  with  them  in  the  petitions. 
Others  have  broke  out  into  so  vio- 
lent a  sound,  as  though  they  were 
bound  to  make  a  thousand  people 
hear  them.  Some  perform  this 
part  of  worship  with  so  slight  and 
familiar  an  air,  as  though  tliey 
had  no  sense  of  the  great  God  to 
whom  they  speak :  others  have 
put  on  an  unnatural  solemnity, 
and  changed  their  natural  voice 
into  so  different  and  awkard  a 
tone,  not  without  some  distortions 
of  countenance,  that  haVe  templed 
strangers  to  ridicule. 

It  is  the  custom  of  some  to 
hurryov^era  single  sentence  or  two, 
and  they  have  done,  before  half 
the  company  are  prepared  to  lift 
up  a  thought  to  heaven.  And  some 


GRA 


519 


GRE 


have  been  just  heard  to  bespeak  a 
blessing  on  the  church  and  the 
king,  but  seem  to  have  forgot  they 
Were  asking  God  to  bless  their 
food,  or  giving  thanks  for  the  food 
they  have  received.  Others,  again, 
have  given  themselves  a  loose  into 
a  long  prayer,  and,  among  a  multi- 
tude of  other  petitions,  have  not 
had  one  that  related  to  the  table 
before  them. 

The  general  rules  of  prudence, 
together  with  a  due  observation  of 
the  custom  of  the  place  where 
we  live,  would  correct  all  these 
disorders,  and  teach  us  that  a  few 
sentences  suited  to  the  occasion, 
spoken  with  an  audible  and  pro- 
per voice,  are  sufficient  for  this 
purpose,  especially  if  any  stran- 
gers are  present.  Watts' s  Works^ 
Oct.  ed.,  vol.  iv,  p.  160  ;  Law's 
Serious  Call^  p.  60 ;  Seed's  Post, 
Ser.,  p.  174. 

GRATITUDE,  is  that  pleasant 
affection  of  the  mind  which  arises 
from  a  sense  of  favours  received, 
and  by  which  the  possessor  is  ex- 
cited to  make  all  the  returns  of 
love  and  service  in  his  power. 
*'  Gratitude,"  says  Mr.  Cogan  (in 
his  Treatise  on  the  Passions),  "  is 
the  powerful  re-action  of  a  well- 
disposed  mind,  vipon  whom  bene- 
volence has  connected  some  im- 
portant good.  It  is  mostly  con- 
nected with  an  impressive  sense  of 
the  amiable  disposition  of  the  per- 
son by  whom  the  benefit  is  con- 
ferred, and  it  immediately  pro- 
duces a  personal  affection  towards 
him.  We  shall  not  wonder  at  the 
peculiar  strength  and  energy  of 
this  affection,  when  we  consider 
that  it  is  compounded  of  love 
placed   upon   the    good    commu- 


nicated, affection  for  the  donor, 
and  Joi/  at  the  reception.  Thus  it 
has  goodness  for  its  object,  and 
the  most  pleasing,  perhaps  unex-, 
pectedy  exertions  of  goodness  for 
its  immediate  cause.  Thankfulness 
refers  to  verbal  expressions  of  gra- 
titude."    See  Thankfulness. 

GRAVITY,  is  that  seriousnest 
of  mind,  united  with  dignity  of 
behavioui*,  that  commands  vene- 
ration and  respect.  Sec  Dr.  Watts'* 
admirable  Sermon  on  Gravity,  ser. 
23,  vol.  i. 

GREATNESS  OF  GOD,  is 
the  infinite  glory  and  excellency  of 
all  his  perfections.  His  greatness 
appears  by  the  attributes  he  pos- 
sesses, Deut.  xxxii,  3,4.  the  works 
he  hath  made,  Ps.  xix,  1.  by  the 
awful  and  benign  providences  ha 
displays,  Ps,  xcvii,  1,  2.  the  grekt 
effects  he  produces  by  his  word^ 
Gen.  i.  the  constant  energy  he 
manifests  in  the  existence  and  sup- 
port of  all  his  creatures,  Ps.  cxlv. 
and  the  everlasting  provision  of 
glory  made  for  his  people,  1st 
Thess.  iv,  17.  This  greatness  is  of 
himsei^f,  and  not  derived,  Ps.  xxi, 
13.  it  is  infinite,  Ps.  cxlv,  3.  not 
diminished  by  exertion,  but  will 
always  remain  the  same,  Mai.  iii, 

6.  The  considerations  of  his  great- 
ness should  excite  veneration,  Ps. 
Ixxxix,  7.  admiration,  Jer.  ix,  6, 

7.  humility.  Job  xlii,  5,  6.  depend- 
ance.  Is.  xxvi,  4.  submission.  Job 
i,  22.  obedience,  Deut.  iv,  39, 
40.  See  Attributes,  and  books 
under  that  article. 

GREEK  CHURCH,  compre- 
hends in  its  bosom  a  considerable 
part  of  Greece,  the  Grecian  Isles, 
Wallachia,  Moldavia,  Egypt,  A- 
byssinia,  Nubia,  Lybia,   Arabia^ 


GRE 


320 


GRE 


Mesopotamia,  Syria,  Cilicia,  and 
Palestine,  which  are  all  under  the 
jurisdiction  of  the  patriarchs  of 
Constantinople,  Alexandria,  An- 
tioch,  and  Jerusalem.  If  to  these 
we  add  the  whole  of  the  Russian 
empire  in  Europe,  great  part  of 
Siberia  in  Asia,  Astracan,  Casan, 
and  Georgia,  it  will  be  evident 
that  the  Greek  church  has  a  wider 
extent  of  territory  than  the  Latin, 
with  all  the  l^ranches  which  have 
sprung  from  it;  aid  that  it  is 
with  great  impropriety  that  the 
church  of  Rome  is  called  by  her 
members  the  catholic  or  universal 
church.  That  in  these  widely  dis- 
tant countries  the  professors  of 
Christianity  are  agreed  in  every 
minute  article  of  belief,  it  would 
be  rash  to  assert;  but  there  is  cer- 
tainly such  an  agreement  among 
them,  with  respect  both  to  faith 
and  to  discipline,  that  they  mu- 
tually hold  communion  with  each 
other,  and  are,  in  fact,  but  one 
church.  It  is  called  th€  Greek 
church,  in  contradistinction  to  the 
Latin  or  Romish  church  ;  as  also 
the  Eastern,  in  distinction  from 
the  Western  church.  We  shall 
here  present  the  reader  with  a  view 
of  its  rise,  tenets,  and  discipline. 
I.  Greek  churchy  rise  and  sepa- 
ration of.  The  Greek  church  is 
considered  as  a  separation  from  the 
Latin.  In  the  middle  of  the  ninth 
century,  the  controversy  relating 
to  the  procession  of  the  Holy 
Ghost  (which  had  been  started  in 
the  sixth  century)  became  a  point 
of  great  importance,  on  account  of 
the  jealousy  and  ambition  which 
at  that  time  were  blended  with  it. 
Photius,  the  patriarch  of  Jerusa- 
lem,   having   been    advanced    to 


that  see  in  the  room  of  Igna* 
tius,  whom  he  procured  to  be  de- 
posed, was  solemnly  excommu- 
nicated by  pope  Nicholas,  in  a 
council  held  at  Rome,  and  his 
ordination  declared  null  and  void. 
The  Greek  emperor  resented  this 
conduct  of  the  pope,  who  defend- 
ed himself  with  great  spirit  and 
resolution.  Photius,  in  his  turn, 
convened  what  he  called  an  oecu- 
menical council,  in  which  he  pro- 
nounced sentence  of  excommu- 
nication and  deposition  against 
the  pope,  and  got  it  subscrib- 
ed by  twenty-one  bishops  and 
others,  amounting  in  number  to 
a  thousand.  This  occasioned  a 
wide  breach  between  the  sees  of 
Rome  and  Constantinople.  How- 
ever, the  death  of  the  emperor 
Michael,  and  the  deposition  of 
Photius,  subsequent  thereupon, 
seem  to  have  restored  peace  ;  for 
the  emperor  Basil  held  a  council 
at  Constantinople,  in  the  year 
869,  in  which  entire  satisfaction 
was  given  to  pope  Adrian  ;  but 
the  schism  was  only  smothered 
and  suppressed  for  a  while.  The 
Greek  church  had  several  com- 
plaints against  the  Latin;  parti- 
cularly it  was  thought  a  great 
hardship  for  the  Greeks  to  sub- 
scribe to  the  definition  of  a  coun- 
cil according  to  the  Roman  form, 
prescribed  by  the  pope,  since  it 
made  the  church  of  Constanti- 
nople dependant  on  that  of  Rome, 
and  set  the  pope  above  an  oecu- 
menical council ;  but,  above  all, 
the  pride  and  haughtiness  of  the 
Roman  court  gave  the  Greeks  a 
great  distate  ;  and  as  their  de- 
portment seemed  to  insult  his  Im- 
perial majesty,  it  entii-ely  aiienut- 


GRE 


521 


GRE 


ed  the  affections  of  the  emperor 
Basil.  Towards  the  middle  of  the 
eleventh  century,  Michael  Cerula- 
rius,  patriarch  of  Constantinople, 
opposed  the  Latins,  with  respect  to 
their  making  use  of  unleavened 
bread  in  the  eucharist,  their  obser- 
vation of  the  sabbath,  and  fasting 
on  Saturdays,  charging  them  with 
living  in  communion  with  the  Jews. 
To  this  pope  Leo  IX  replied ; 
and,  in  his  apology  for  the  Latins, 
declaimed  very  warmly  against 
the  false  doctrine  of  the  Greeks, 
and  interposed,  at  the  same  time, 
the  authority  of  his  see.  He 
likewise,  by  his  legates,  excom- 
municated the  patriarch  in  the 
church  of  Santa  Sophia,  which 
gave  the  last  shock  to  the  recon- 
ciliation attempted  a  long  time 
after,  but  to  no  purpose ;  for  from 
that  time  the  hatred  of  the  Greeks 
to  the  Latins,  and  of  the  Latins  to 
the  Greeks,  became  insuperable, 
insomuch  that  they  have  continu- 
ed ever  since  separated  from  each 
other's  cominunion. 

II.  Greek  churchy  tenets  of.  The 
following  are  some  of  the  chief  te- 
nets held  by  the  Greek  church  : — 
They  disown  the  authority  of  the 
pope,  and  deny  that  the  church 
of  Rome  is  the  true  catholic 
church.  They  do  not  baptize 
their  children  till  they  are  three, 
four,  five,  six,  ten,  nay  sometimes 
eighteen  years  of  age  :  baptism 
is  performed  by  trilne  immersion. 
They  insist  that  the  sacrament  of 
the  Lord's  supper  ought  to  be  ad- 
ministered in  both  kinds,  and  they 
give  the  sacrament  to  children 
immediately  after  i^aptism.  They 
grant  no  indulgences,  nor  do  they 
lav  any  claim  to  the  characterof  in- 
'Voi..  L  Tt 


fallibility,  like  the  church  of  Rome. 
They  deny  that  there  is  any  such 
place  as  purgatory;  notwithstand- 
ing they  pray  for  the  dead,  that 
God  would  have  mercy  on  them 
at  the  general  judgment.  They 
practise  the  invocation  of  saints  ; 
though,  they  say,  they  do  not  in- 
voke them  as  deities,  but  as  in- 
tercessors with  God.  They  ex- 
clude confirmation,  extreme  unc- 
tion, and  matrimony,  out  of  the 
seven  sacraments.  They  deny 
auricular  confession  to  be  a  di- 
vine precept,  and  say  it  is  only  a 
positive  injunction  of  the  church. 
They  pay  no  religious  homage  to 
the  eucharist.  They  administer 
the  communion  in  both  kinds  to 
the  laity,  both  in  sickness  and  in 
health,  though  they  have  never 
applied  themselves  to  their  con- 
fessors; because  they  are  persuad- 
ed that  a  lively  faith  is  all  which 
is  requisite  for  the  worthy  re- 
ceiving of  the  Lord's  supper.  They 
maintain  that  the  Holy  Ghost  pro- 
ceeds only  from  the  Father,  and 
not  from  the  Son.  They  believe 
in  predestination.  They  admit  of 
no  images  in  relief  or  embossed 
Vv'ork,  but  use  paintings  and  sculp- 
tures in  copper  or  siivei%  They 
approve  of  the  marriage  of  priests, 
provided  they  enter  into  that  state 
before  their  admission  into  holy 
orders.  They  condemn  all  fourth 
marriages.  They  observe  a  num- 
ber of  holy  days,*andkeep  four  fasts 
in  the  year  more  solemn  than  the 
rest,  of  which  the  fast  in  Lent,  be- 
fore Easter,  is  tiie  chief.  They  be- 
lieve the  doctrine  of  consubstan- 
tia'.ion,  or  the  union  of  the  body  of 
Christ  with  the  sacramental  bread. 
tiL  Greek  churchy  state  and  dis 


GRE 


322 


GU  A 


cipline  of*  Since  the  Greeks  be- 
came subject  to  the  Turkish  yoke, 
they  have  sunk  into  the  most 
deplorable  ignorance,  in  conse- 
quence of  the  slavery  and  thral- 
dom under  which  the  groan ; 
and  their  religion  is  now  greatly 
corrupted.  It  is,  indeed,  little 
better  than  a  heap  of  ridiculous 
ceremonies  and  absurdities.  The 
head  of  the  Greek  church  is  the 
patriarch  of  Constantinople,  who 
is  chosen  by  the  neighbouring 
archbishops  and  metropolitans, 
and  confirmed  by  the  emperor  or 
grand  vizier.  He  is  a  person  of 
great  dignity,  being  the  head  and 
director  of  the  Eastern  church. 
The  other  patriarchs  are  those  of 
Jerusalem,  Antioch,  and  Alex- 
andria. Mr.  Tournefort  tells  us, 
that  the  patriarchates  are  now 
generally  set  to  sale,  and  bestowed 
upon  those  who  are  the  highest 
bidders.  The  patriarchs,  metro- 
politans, archbishops,  and  bishops, 
are  always  chosen  from  among 
the  caloycrs,  or  Greek  monks. 
The  next  person  to  a  bishop, 
among  the  clergy,  is  an  archiman- 
drite, who  is  the  director  of  one 
or  more  convents,  which  are  call- 
ed mandren  ;  then  come  the  ab- 
bot, the  arch-priest,  the  priest,  the 
deacon,  the  under-deacon,  the 
chanter,  and  the  lecturer.  The 
secular  clergy  are  subject  to  no 
rules,  and  never  rise  higher  than 
high  priest.  The  Greeks  have  few 
nunneries,  but  a  great  many  con- 
vents of  monks,  who  are  all 
priests  ;  and  (students  excepted) 
obliged  to  follow  some  handicraft 
employment,  and  lead  a  very  aus- 
tere lilt. 

The  iUissians  adhere  to  the  doc- 


trine and  ceremonies  of  the  Greek 
church,  though  they  are  now  in- 
dependent on  the  patriarch  of  Con- 
stantinople. The  Russian  church, 
indeed,  may  be  reckoned  the 
first,  as  to  extent  of  empire ;  yet 
there  is  very  little  of  the  power 
of  vital  religion  among  them.  The 
Roskolniki^  or,  as  they  now  call 
themselves,  \}i\(t  Starovertzi^  were 
a  sect  that  separated  from  the 
church  of  Russia  about  1666: 
they  aifected  extraordinary  piety 
and  devotion,  a  veneration  for  the 
letter  of  the  holy  scriptures,  and 
would  not  allow  a  priest  to  admi- 
nister baptism  who  had  that  day 
tasted  brandy.  They  harbour- 
ed many  follies  and  superstitions, 
and  have  been  greatly  persecut- 
ed ;  but,  perhaps,  there  will  be 
found  among  them  *'  some  that 
shall  be  counted  to  the  Lord  for  a 
generation."  Several  settlements 
of  German  Protestants  have  been 
established  in  the  Wolga.  The 
Moravians,  also,  have  done  good 
in  Livonia,  and  the  adjacent  isles 
in  the  Baltic  under  the  Russian 
government.  See  Mosheim^  Gre- 
gory^and  Haweis's  Church  Histo  ry; 
King's  Rites  and  Ceremonies  of  the 
Greek  Church  in  Russia  ;  The  Rus- 
sian Catecnism  ;  Secret  Memoirs  of 
the  Court  of  Petersburg ;  Tooke^s 
History  of  Russia  ;  Ricaufs  State 
of  the  Greek  Church;  Enc.  Brit. 

GKOWTH  IN  GRACE.  Sec 
Grace. 

GUARDIAN  ANGEL, 
"  Some,"  says  Dr.  Doddridge, 
"  have  thought,  that  not  only  eve- 
ry region  but  e\'ery  man  has  some 
particular  angel  assigned  him  as 
a  guardian^  whose  business  it  is 
generally  to  vratcb  over  that  coun- 


HAB 


323 


HtER 


try  or  person  ;  for  this  opinion 
they  urge  Matt,  xviii,  10.  Acts 
xii,  15.  but  the  argument  from 
both  these  places  is  evidently  pre- 
carious ;  and  it  seems  difficult  to 
reconcile  the  supposition  of  such 
a  continued  attendance  with  what 
is  said  of  the  stated  residence  ot 
these  angels  in  heaven,  and  with 
Hcb.  i,  14.  where  all  the  angels 
are  represented  as  ministering  to 
the  heirs  of  salvation  :  though, 
as  there  is  great  reason  to  believe 
the  number  of  heavenly  spirits  is 
vastly  superior  to  that  of  men  up- 
on earth,  it  is  not  improbable  that 
they  may,  as  it  were,  relieve  each 


other,  and  in  their  turns  perform 
these  condescending  services  to 
those  whom  the  Lord  of  Angels 
has  been  pleased  to  redeem  with 
his  own  blood  ;  but  we  must  con- 
fess that  our  knowledge  of  the 
laws  and  orders  of  those  celestial 
beings  is  very  limited,  and  conse- 
quently that  it  is  the  part  of  hu- 
mility to  avoid  dogmatical  deter- 
minations on  such  heads  as  these." 
See  Angel  ;  and  Doddridge's  Lec- 
tures^ lee.  212. 

GUILT,  the  state  of  a  person 
justly  charged  with  a  crime  ;  a 
consciousness  of  having  done  a- 
miss.     See  Sin. 


H. 


HABIT,  a  power  and  ability  of 
doing  any  thing,  acquired  by  fre- 
quent repetition  of  the  same  ac- 
tion. It  is  distinguished  from  cus- 
tom. Custom  respects  the  action; 
habit  the  actor.  By  custom  we 
mean  a  frequent  reiteration  of  the 
same  act ;  and  by  habit  the  effect 
that  custom  has  on  the  mind  or 
body.  "  Man,"  as  one  observes, 
"  is  a  bundle  of  habits.  There 
are  habits  of  industry,  attention, 
vigilance,  advertency ;  of  a  prompt 
obedience  to  the  judgment  occur- 
ring, or  of  yielding  to  the  first  im- 
pulse of  passion ;  of  apprehend- 
ing, methodising,  reasoning;  of 
vanity,  melancholy,  fretfulness, 
suspicion,  covetousness,  &c.  In  a 
v/ord,  there  is  not  a  quality  or 
function,  either  of  body  or  mind, 
w^hich  does  not  feel  the  influence 
of  this  great  law  of  animated  na- 
ture." To  cure  evil  habits,  we 
should  be  as  earlv  as  we  can  in 


our  application,  principtis  ohsta ; 
to  cross  and  mortify  the  inclina- 
tion by  a  frequent  and  obstinate 
practice  of  the  contrary  virtue. 
To  form  good  habits,  we  should 
get  our  minds  well  stored  with 
knowledge ;  associate  with  the 
wisest  and  best  men  ;  reflect  much 
on  the  pleasure  good  habits  are 
productive  of ;  and,  above  all,  sup- 
plicate the  Divine  Being  for  direc- 
tion and  assistance.  Kaim^s  El.  of 
Crit.f  ch  xiv,  vol.  1  ;  Grovels  Mor. 
Phil.^  vol.  i,  p.  143  ;  Paleifs  Mor. 
Phil.,  vol.  i,  p.  46  ;  Jortin  on  Bad 
Habits,  ser.  1,  vol.  iii ;  Reid  on  the 
Active  Powers,  p.  117;  Cogan  on 
the  Passions,  p.  235. 

H^RETICO  COMBUREN- 
DO,  a  writ  which  anciently  lay  a- 
gainst  an  heritic,  who,  having  once 
been  convicted  of  heresy  by  his 
bishop,  and  having  abjured  it, 
afterwards  falling  into  it  again,  or 
into    some    other,    is    thereupon 


HiER 


324 


HAP 


committed  to  the  secular  power.  1 
This  writ  is  thought  by  some  to 
be  as  ancient  as  the  common  iav/ 
itself ;  however,  the  conviction  of 
heresy  by  the  common  law  was 
not  in  any  petty  ecclesiastical 
court,  but  before  the  archbishop 
himself,  in  a  provincial  synod, 
and  the  delinquent  was  delivered 
up  to  the  king,  to  dowidi  him  as 
he  pleased;  so  that  the  crown  had 
a  control  over  the  spiritual  pow- 
er ;  but  by  2  Henry  IV,  cap.  15, 
the  diocesan  alone,  without  the  in- 
tervention of  a  synod,  might  con- 
vict of  heretical  tenets  ;  and  unless 
the  convict  abjured  his  opinions, 
or  if  after  abjuration  he^i'elapsed, 
the  sheriff  v^-as  bound  ex  officio^  if 
required  by  the  bishop,  to  commit 
the  unhappy  victim  to  the  flames, 
without  v/aiting  for  the  consent  of 
the  ci^wn.  Xhis  writ  remained 
in  force,  and  was  actually  execut- 
ed on  two  Anabaptists,  in  the  se- 
venth of  Elizabeth,  and  on  t^vo 
Arians  in  the  nmth  of  James  I. 
Sir  Edward  Colce  v*as  of  opinion 
that  this  writ  did  not  lie  in  his 
time  ;  but  it  is  now  formally 
taken  away  by  statute  29  Car.  II, 
cap.  9.  But  this  statute  does  not 
extend  to  take  away  or  abridge 
the  jurisdiction  of  Protestant  arch- 
bishops, or  bishops,  or  any  other 
judges  of  any  ecclesiastical  courts, 
in  cases  of  atheism, blasphemy,  he- 
resy, or  schism ;  but  they  may 
prove  and  punish  the  same,  ac- 
cording to  his  majesty's  ecclesias- 
tical laws,  by  excomm.unication, 
deprivation,  degradation,  and  other 
ecclesiastical  ctnsures,  not  extend- 
ing to  death,  in  such  sort,  and  no 
other,  as  they  might  have  done 
before  the  making  of  this  act. 


HAGIOGRAPHIA,  a  name 
given  to  part  of  the  books  of  the 
scriptures,  called  by  the  Jews  ce- 
tuvim.  See  article  Bible,  sec.  1. 

HAMPTON  COURT  CON- 
FERENCE, a  conference  ap- 
pointed by  James  I,  at  Hampton, 
Court,  in  1603,  in  order  to  settle 
the  disputes  between  the  church 
and  the  Puritans.  Nine  bishops, 
and  as  many  dignitaries  of  the 
church,  appeared  on  one  side,  and 
fourPuritan  ministers  on  the  other. 
It  lasted  for  three  days.  Neal  calls 
it  a  niock  conference,  because  all 
things  were  previously  concluded 
between  the  king  and  the  bishops  ; 
and  the  Puritans  borne  down  not 
with  calm  reason  and  argument, 
but  with  the  royal  authority,  the 
king  being  both  judge  and  party. 
The  proposals  and  remonstrances 
of  the  Puritans  may  be  seen  in 
NeaPs  History  of  the  Puritans^ 
ch.  1,  part  ii. 

EIAPPINESS,  absolutely  taken, 
denotes  the  durable  possession  of 
perfect  good,  without  any  mixture 
of  evil ;  or  the  enjoyment  of  pure 
pleasure  unalloyed  with  pain,  or 
a  state  in  which  all  our  v/ishes  are 
satisfied ;  in  which  senses,  happi- 
ness is  only  known  by  name  on 
this  earth.  The  vv^ord  happy, 
when  applied  to  any  state  or  con- 
dition of  human  life,  will  admit 
of  no  positive  definition,  but  is 
I  merely  a  relative  term  ;  that  is, 
when  we  call  a  man  happy,  we 
mean  that  he  is  happier  than  some 
others  with  whom  we  compare 
I  him  ;  than  the  generality  of  others ; 
or  than  he  himself  was  in  some 
other  situation.  Moralists  justly 
observe,  that  happiness  does  not 
consist  in  the  pleasures  of  sense  j 


H  AR 


\25 


H  A  T 


as  eating,  drinking,  music,  paint- 
ing, theatric  exhibitions,  &c.  &c., 
for  these  pleasures  continue  but 
a  little  while,  by  repetition  lose 
their  relish,  and  by  high  expec- 
tation often  bring  disappoint- 
ment. Nor  does  happiness  consist 
in  an  exemption  from  labour, 
care,  business,  &c. ;  such  a  state 
being  usually  attended  with  de- 
pression of  spirits,  imaginary  anx- 
ieties, and  the  whole  train  of  hy- 
pochondriacal affections.  Nor  is  it 
to  be  found  in  greatness,  rank,  or 
elevated  stations,  as  matter  of 
fact  abundantly  testifies  ;  but  hap- 
piness consists  in  the  enjoyment 
of  the  Divine  favour,  a  good 
conscience,  and  uniform  conduct. 
In  subordination  to  these,  human 
happiness  may  be  greatly  promot- 
ed by  the  exercise  of  the  social 
aifections  ;  the  pursuit  of  some 
engaging  end ;  the  prudent  consti- 
tution of  the  habits  ;  and  the  en- 
joyment of  our  health.  Bolton 
and  Lucas  on  Happiness  ;  Henri fs 
Pleasantness  of  a  Religious  Life  ; 
Gro'oeandPaleifsMor.  Phil.;  Bar- 
row's Ser.^  ser.  1  ;  Toung's  Cen- 
taur^ 41  to  160;  Wollastoii's  Re- 
ligion of  Nature^  sec.  2. 

HARMONY  OF  THE  GOS- 
PELS, a  term  made  use  of  to  de- 
note the  concurrence  or  agreement 
of  the  writings  of  the  four  evange- 
lists; or  the  history  of  the  four  evan- 
gelists digested  into  one  continued 
series.  By  this  means  each  storj^ 
or  discourse  is  exhibited  with  all 
its  concurrent  circumstances  ;  fre- 
quent repetitions  are  prevented, 
and  a  multitude  of  seeming  oppo- 
sitions reconciled.  Among  some 
of  the  most  valuable  harmonies, 
are   those  of   Cradock^  Le  Clcrc^ 


Doddridge^  Macknigkt^  and  New- 
combe.  The  term  harmony  is  also 
used  in  reference  to  the  agreement 
which  the  gospel  bears  to  natural 
religion,  the  Old  Testament,  the 
history  of  other  nations,  and  the 
works  of  God  at  large. 

HASSIDEANS,  or  Assi- 
DEANs,  those  Jews  who  resorted 
to  Mattathias,  to  fight  for  the  laws 
of  God  and  the  liberties  of  their 
country.  They  were  men  of  great 
volour  and  zeal,  havingvoluntarily 
devoted  themselves  to  a  more  strict 
observation  of  the  law  than  other 
men.  For,  after  the  return  of  the 
Jews  from  the  Babylonish  capti- 
vity, there  were  two  sorts  of  men 
in  their  church ;  those  who  con- 
tented themselves  with  that  obe- 
dience only  which  was  prescribed 
by  the  law  of  Moses,  and  who 
were  called  Zadikim^  i.  e.  the 
righteous;  and  those  who,  over 
and  above  the  laws,  superadded 
the  constitutions  and  traditions  of 
the  elders,  and  other  rigorous 
observances :  these  latter  were 
called  the  Chasidim^  i.  e.  the  pious. 
From  the  former  sprang  the  Sa- 
maritans, Sadducees,  and  Caraites ; 
from  the  latter,  the  Pharisees  and 
the  Essenes  ;  which  see. 

HATRED  is  the  aversion  of 
the  will  to  any  object  considered  by 
us  as  evil,  or  to  any  person  or  thing 
we  suppose  can  do  us  harm.  Sec 
Antipathy.  Hatred  is  ascrib- 
ed to  God,  but  is  not  to  be 
considered  as  a  passion  in  him  as 
in  man  ;  nor  can  he  hate  any  of 
the  creatures  he  has  made  as  his 
creatures.  Yet  he  is  said  to  hate 
the  wicked,  Ps.  v.  5  ;  and  indig- 
nation and  wrath,  tribulation  and 
anguish,  will  be  upon  every  sovil  of 


11  A 


326 


li  E  A 


Fnaa  tliat  does  evil.    See  Wrath- 
or  God. 

HATTE  MISTS,  in  ecclesias- 
tical history,  the  name  of  a  modern. 
Dutch  sect ;  so  called  from  Pon- 
tian  Van  Hattem,  a  minister  in 
the  province  of  Zealand,  towards 
the  close  of  the  last  century,  who, 
being  addicted  to  the  sentiments 
of  Spinosa,  was  on  that  account 
degraded  from  his  pastoral  office. 
The  Verschorists  and  Hattemists 
resemble  each  other  in  their  re- 
ligiou,s.  systems,  though  they  ne- 
ver so  entirely  agreed  as  to  form 
one  communion.  The  founders 
of  these  sects  deduced  from  the 
dpctrine  of  jjbsolute  decrees  a 
syst.em  of  fatal,  and  uncontrollable 
necessity  ;  they  denied  the  differ- 
ence between  moral  good  and 
eyii,  and  the  corruption  of  human 
nature  ;  from  hence  they  farther 
concluded,  that  mankind  were 
under  no  sort  of  obligation  to 
correct  their  manners,  to  improve 
their  rninds,  or  to  obey  the  Di- 
vine laws  ;  that,  the  v^hole  of  re- 
ligion corisisted  not  in  acting,  but 
in  suffering;  and  that  all  the 
precepts  of  Jesus  Christ  are  re- 
ducible to  this  one,  that  we. bear 
"With  cheerfulness  and  patience  the 
events  that  happen  to  us  through 
the  Divine  will^  and  make  it  our 
constant  and  07ily  study  to  maintaiji 
a  permanent  tranquiliity  of  mind. 
Thus  far  they  agreed  :  but  the 
Hattemists  fardier  affirmed,  that 
Christ  made  no  expiation  for  the 
sins  of  men  by  his  deadi  j  but  had 
only  suggestecl  to  us,  by  his  media- 
tion, that  there  was  nothing  in  us 
that  could  offend  the  Deity. :  this, 
they  say,  was  Christ's  manner  of 
justifying  his   servants,  and  pre- 


senting them  blameless  before  the 
tribunal  of  God.  It  was  one  of 
their  distinguished  tenets,  that 
God  does  not  punish  men  for 
their  sins,  but  by  their  sins. 
These  two  sects,  says  Mosheim, 
still  subsist,  though  they  no  longer 
bear  the  names  of  their  founders. 

HEARING  THE  WOKD  OF 
GOD,  is  an  ordinance  of  Divine 
appointment.  Rom.  x,  17.  Prov. 
viii,  4,  5.     Mark  iv,  24. 

Public  reading  of  the  scriptures 
was  a  part  of  synagogue  worship, 
Acts  xiii,  15.  Acts  xv,  21.  and 
was  the  practice  of  the  christians 
in  primitive  times.  Under  the  for- 
mer dispensation  there  was  a  pub- 
lic hearing  of  the  law  at  stated 
seasons,  Deut.  xxxii,  10, 13.  Neh. 
viii,  2,  3.  It  seems,  therefore,  that 
it  is  a  duty  incumbent  on  us  to 
hear,  and,  if  sensible  of  our  ignQ^- 
ranee,  we  shall  also  consider  it  our 
privilege.  As  to  the  manner  of 
heajnng,  it  should  be  constantly, 
Prov.  viii,  34.  Jam.  i,  24,  25. 
Attentively^  Luke  xxi,  38.  Acts 
X,  53.  Luke  iv,  20,  22".  With 
reverence^  Ps.  Ixxxix,  7.  With 
faith^  Heb.  iv,,2.  With  an  endea- 
vour to  retain  what  we  hear,  Heb, 
ii,  1.  Ps.  cxix,  11.  With  a  hum- 
ble docile  disposition^  Luke  x,  42. 
With  prayer,  Luke  xviii.  The 
advantages  of  hearing  are,  inr 
formation,  2d  Tim.  iii,  I6i.  Con- 
viction^ 1st  Cor.  xiv,  24^  25.  Acts 
ii.  Conversion,  Ps,  xix,  7.  Acts 
iv,  4.  Confrraation,  Acts  xiv,  22. 
Acts  xvi,  5.  Consolation,  Phil,  i, 
25..  Isa.  xl,  1,.  2.  Isa.  xxxv,  3. 
4.  Stennefs  Parable  of  the  Soxver  ; 
Massilon's,  Ser.,  vol.  ii,  p.  131, 
Eng.  trans. ;  GilPs  Body  of  Div., 
vol  iii,  p.  340,  oct.  ed- 


HE  A 


327 


H  K  A 


HEART  is  used  for  the  soul, 
and  all  the  powers  thereof ;  as  the 
understanding,  conscience,  will, 
affections,  and  memory.  The  heart 
of  man  is  naturally,  constantly, 
universally,  inexpressibly,  openly, 
and  evidently  depraved,  and  in- 
clined to  evil,  Jer.  xvii,  9.  It  re- 
quires a  Divine  power  to  renovate 
it,  and  render  it  susceptible  of  right 
impressions,  Jer.  xxlv,  7.  When 
thus  renovated,  the  effects  will  be 
seen  in  the  temper,  conversation, 
and  conduct  at  large.  See  Faith, 
Hope,  &c.  Hardness  of  heart  is 
that  state  in  which  a  sinner  is  in- 
clined to,  and  actually  goes  on  in 
rebellion  against  God.  This  state 
evidences  itself  by  light  views  of 
the  evil  of  sin;  partial  acknow- 
ledgment and  confession  of  it; 
frequent  commission  of  it ;  pride 
and  conceit ;  ingratitude ;  un- 
concern about  the  word  and  ordi- 
nances of  God  ;  inattention  to  Di- 
vine providences ;  stifling  con- 
victions of  conscience;  shunning 
reproof;  presumption,  and  general 
ignorance  of  Divine  things.  We 
mustdistingLiish,however,between 
that  hardness  of  heart  which  even 
a  good  man  complains  of,  and 
that  of  a  judicial  nature.  1.  Judi- 
cial hardness  is  very  seldom  per- 
ceived, and  never  lamented  ;  a 
broken  and  a  contrite  heart  is  the 
least  thing  such  desire  :  but  it  is 
otherwise  with  believers,  for  the 
hardness  they  feel  is  always  a 
matter  of  grief  to  thern,  Rom.  vii, 
24. — 2.  Judicial  hardness  is  per- 
petual ;  or,  if  ever  there  be  any 
I'emorse  or  relenting,  it  is  only 
at  such  times  when  the  sinner  is 
under  some  outward  afHictions,  or 
filled  with  the  dread  of  the  wrath 


of  God  ;  but  as  this  wears  6ff  or 
abates,  his  stupidity  returns  as 
much  or  more  than  ever,  Exbd, 
ix,  27  ;  but  true  believers,  when 
no  adverse  dispensations  trouble 
them,  are  often  distressed  because 
their  hearts  are  ro  more  affected  in 
holy  duties,  or  infiamed  v/ith  love 
to  God,  Rom.  vii,  15. — 3.  Judi- 
cial hardness  is  attended  with  a 
total  neglect  of  duties,  especially 
those  that  are  secret ;  but  that 
hardness  of  heart  which  a  believer 
complains  of,  though  it  occasions 
his  going  uncomfortably  in  duty, 
yet  does  not  keep  him  from  it,  Job 
xxiii,  2,  3. — 4.  V/hen  a  person  is 
judicially  hardened,  he  makes  use 
of  indirect  and  unv/arrantable  me- 
thods to  maintain  that  fals?  peace 
which  he  thinks  himself  happy  in 
the  enjoyment  of;  but  a  believer, 
when  complaining  of  the  hardness 
of  his  heart,  cannot  be  satisfied 
with  any  thing  short  of  Christ,  Ps. 
ci,  2. — 5.  Judicial  hardness  ge- 
nerally opposes  the  interest  of 
truth  and  godliness  ;  but  a  good 
man  considers  this  as  a  cause 
nearest  his  heart ;  and  although 
he  have  to  lament  his  lukewarm- 
ness,  yet  he  constantly  desires  to 
promote  it,  Ps.  Ixxii,  19. 

Kcephig  the  hearty  is  a  duty 
enjoined  in  the  sacred  scriptures^ 
It  consists,  says  Mr.  Flavel, 
in  the  diligent  and  constant  use 
and  improvement  of  all  holy  means 
and  duties  to  preserve  the  soul 
from  sin,  and  maintain  commu- 
nion with  God  ;  and  this,  he  pro- 
perly observes,  supposes  a  pre- 
vious workof  sanctification,  which 
hath  set  the  heart  right  by  giving 
it  a  new  bent  and  inclination. 
1.  It  includes  frequent  obseiTrttiori 


HE  A 


323 


HE  A 


of  the  frame  of  the  heart,  Ps. 
Ixxvii,  6. — 2.  Deep  humiliatloR 
for  heart  evils  and  disorders,  2d 
Chron.  xxxii,26. — 3.  Earnest  sup- 
plication for  heart  purifying  and 
rectifi)iiBg  grace,  Ps.  xix,  12. — 4. 
A  constant  holy  jealousy  over  our 
hearts,  Pro  v.  xxvii,  14. — 5.  It 
includes  the  realizingof  God's  pre- 
sence with  us,  and  setting  him  be- 
fore us,  Ps.  xvi,  8.  Gen.  xvii,  1. 
This  is,  1.  The  hardest  work; 
heart  v/ork  is  hard  work,  indeed. 
— r2.  Constant  work,  Exod.  xvii, 
12. — 3.  The  most  important 
work,  Prov.  xxiii,  26.  This  is  a 
dutij  wkich  should  be  attended  to^ 
if  -we  consider  it  in  connexion  -with^ 
1.  The  honour  of  God,  is.  Ixvi, 
3. — 2.  The  sincerity  of  our  pro- 
fession, 2d  Kings,  x,  31.  Ezek. 
xxxiii,  31,  32. — 3.  The  beauty  of 
our  conversation,  Prov.  xii,  26. 
Ps.  xlv,  1. — 4.  The  comfort  of  our 
souls,  2d  Cor.  xiii,  5. — 5.  The 
improvement  of  our  graces,  Ps. 
ixiii,  5,  6. — 6-  The  stability  of 
our  souls  in  the  hour  of  temp- 
tation, 1st  Cor.  Xvi,  13.  The  sea- 
sons in  xvhich  xve  should  more  par- 
ticularly keep  our  hearts  are^  1. 
The  time  of  prosperity,  Deut.  vi, 
10,12. — 2.  Under  afflictions,  Heb. 
xii,  5,  6. — 3.  The  time  of  Sion's 
troubles,  Ps.  xlvi,  1,  4. — 4.  In  the 
time  of  great  and  threatening  clan- 
gers. Is.  xxvi,  20,  21. — 5,  Under 
great  wants,  Phil,  iv,  6,  7. — 6.  In 
the  time  of  duty.  Lev.  x,  3. — 7. 
Under  injuries  received,  Rom.  xii, 
1 7,  &c — 8.  In  the  critical  hour  of 
temptation,  Matt,  xxvi,  41. — 9. 
Under  dark  and  doubting  seasons, 
Heb.  xii.  8.  Is.  1,  10.— :ia  In 
time  of  opposition  and  suffering, 
1st  Pet.  iv,  12, 13 — 11.  The  time 


of  sickness  and  death,  Jer.  xlix. 
11.  The  means  to  be  made  use  of 
to  keep  our  hearts  are,  1.  Watchful- 
ness, Mark  xiii,  37. — 2.  Exami- 
nation, Prov.  iv,  26. — 3.  Prayer, 
Luke  xviii,  1. — 4.  Reading  God's 
word,  John  v,  39. — 5.  Depend- 
ance  on  Divine  grace,  Ps.  Ixxxvi, 
11.  See  Flavel  on  Keeping  the 
Heart;  famiesorCs  Sermons  on  the 
Heart ;  Ridgleifs  Div.^  qu.  29. 

HEATHEN,  pagans  who  wor- 
ship false  gods,  and  are  not  ac- 
quainted either  with  the  doctrines 
of  the  Old  Testament  or  the  chris- 
tian dispensation.  For  many  ages 
before  Christ,  the  nations  at  large 
were  destitute  of  the  true  religion, 
and  gave  themselves  up  to  the 
grossest  ignorance,  the  most  ab- 
surd idolatry,  and  the  greatest 
crimes.  Even  the  most  learned 
men  among  the  heathens  were  in 
general  inconsistent,  and  complied 
with  or  promoted  the  vain  cus- 
toms they  found  among  their 
countrymen.  It  was,  however,  di- 
vinely foretold,  that  in  Abraham's 
seed  all  nations  should  be  blessed  j 
that  the  heathens  should  be  gather- 
ed to  the  Saviour,  and  become  his 
people.  Gen.  xxii.  18.  Gen.  xlix, 
10.  Ps.  ii,  8.  Isa.  -  xiii,  6,  7.  Ps. 
ixxii.  Isaiah  Ix.  In  order  that 
these  promises  might  be  accom- 
plished, vast  numbers  of  the  Jews, 
after  the  Chaldean  captivity,  were 
left  scattered  among  the  heathen. 
The  Old  Testament  was  translat- 
ed into  Greek,  the  most  common 
language  of  the  heathen  ;  and  a 
rumour  of  the  Saviour's  appearance 
in  the  flesh  was  spread  far  and  wide 
among  them.  When  Christ  came, 
he  preached  chiefly  in  Galilee, 
where  there  v/ere  multitudes  of 


HE  A 


329 


HE  A 


Gentiles.  He  assured  the  Greeks 
that  vast  numbers  of  the  heathen 
should  be  brought  into  the  church, 
Matt,  iv,  23.  John  xii,  20,  24. 
For  1  TOO  years  past  the  Jews  have 
been  generally  rejected,  and  the 
church  of  God  has  been  composed 
of  the  Gentiles.  Upwards  of  480 
millions  (nearly  half  the  globe), 
however,  are  supposed  to  be  yet 
in  pagan  darkness.  Considerable 
attempts  have  been  made  of  late 
5'-ears  for  the  enlightening  of  the 
heathen  ;  and  there  is  every  rea- 
son to  believe  good  has  been  done. 
From  the  aspect  .of  scripture  pro- 
phecy, we  are  led  \to  expect  that 
the  kingdoms  of  the  heathen  at 
large  shall  be  brought  to  the  light 
of  the  gospel.  Matt,  xxiv,  14.  Isa. 
Ix.  Ps.  xxii,  28,  29.  Ps.  ii,  7,  8. 
It  has  been  much  disputed  whe- 
ther it  be  possible  thrjt  the  heathen 
should  be  saved  without  the  know- 
ledge of  the  gospel :  some  have 
absolutely  denied  it  upon  the  au- 
thority of  those  texts  which  uni- 
versally require  faith  in  Christ ; 
but  to  this  it  is  ansv/ered,  that 
those  texts  regard  only  such  to 
whom  the  gospel  comes,  and  are 
capable  of  understanding  the  con- 
tents of  it.  The  truth,  says  Dr. 
Doddridge,  seems  to  be  this  ;  that 
none  of  the  heathens  will  be  con- 
demned for  not  believing  the  gos- 
pel, but  they^re« liable'  to  con-- 
demnation  for  the  breach  of  God's 
natural  law  :  nevertheless,  if  there 
be  any  of  them  in  whom  there  is 
a  prevailing  love  to  the  Divine  Be- 
ing, there  seems  reason  to  believe 
that,  for  the  sakeo?  Christ,  though 
to  them  unknown,  they  may  be  ac- 
cepted by  God  ;  and  so  much  the 
rather,  as  the  ancient  Jews,and  even 
Vol.  I.  U  u 


the  apostles,  during  the  time  of  our 
Saviour's  abode  on  earth,  seem  to 
have  had  but  little  notion  of  those 
doctrines,  which  those  who  deny 
the  salvabillty  of  the  heathens  are 
most  apt  to  imagine,  iWm.  ii,  10 
to  26.  Acts  X,  34,  2>5.  Matt,  viii', 
11,  12.  Mr.  Grove,  Dr.  Watts, 
Saurin,  and  Mr.  Newton,  favour 
the  same  opinion  ;  the  latter  of 
whom  thus  obsejjyes  :  "  If  we  sup- 
pose a  heathen  brought  to  a  seiiSe 
of  his  misery  ;  to  a  conviction  that 
he  cannof  be  happy  without  the 
favour -of  the  great  Lord  of  the 
world;  to  a  feeling  of  guilty'  and 
desire  of  mercy,  and  that,  though  , 
he  has  no  explicit  knowledge  of'  a 
Saviour,  he  directs  the  cry  of 'hiis 
heart  to  the  unknown  Supreme, 
to  have  mercy  upon  him  ;  who 
will  prove  that  such  views  and  de- 
sires can  arise  in  the  heart  of  a 
sinner,  without  the  energy  of  that 
spirit  which  Jesus  is  exalted  to  be- 
stow ?  Who  will  take  upon  him  to 
say,  that  his  blood  has  not  suffi- 
cient efficacy  to  redeem  to  God  a 
sinner  who  is  thus  disposed,though 
he  have  never  heard  of  his  name  ? 
Or  who  has  a  warrant  to  affirm, 
that  the  supposition  I  have  made 
is  in  the  nature  of  things  impos- 
sible to  be  realized?"  NeiX)torCs 
Messiah;  Dr.  Watts'^s Strength  and 
Weakness  of  Human  Reason^  •^. 
106  ;  Saur'in's  Sermons^  vol.  ii,  p. 
314;  Grove's  Moral  Philosophy^ 
vol.  i,  p.  128;  Turret  Zoci;  vol. 
i,  qua; St.  4,  §  1,  2,  \7  ;  Dbdd- 
r'ldge's  Lectures,  lee.  ^bO^'voU  -ii,  \~! 
Svoedit. ;  BellaTtuJs  Religion  De-  i 
lineated,  p.  105 ;  Ridgleij's  Body 
of  Divinitij,  qu.  60  ;  Gale's  Court 
of  the  Gentiles, 

HEAVEN  is  considered  as  a 


HE  A 


330 


HE  A 


place  in  some  remote  part  of  infi- 
nite space,  in  which  the  omnipre- 
sent Deity  is  said  to  afford  a  nearer 
and  more  immediate  view  of  liim- 
self,  and  a  more  sensible  manifes- 
tation of  his  glory,  than  in  the  oth- 
er parts  of  the  universe. 

That  there  is  a  state  of  future 
happiness^  both  reason  and  scrip- 
ture indicate  :    a  general  notion  of 
happiness  after  death  has  obtained 
among  the  wiser  sort  of  heathens, 
who  have  only  had  the  light  of  na- 
.ture  to  guide  them.      If  we  exa- 
mine the  human  mind,  it  is  also 
evident  that  there  is  a  natural  de- 
sire after  happiness  in  all    men  ; 
and,  whicFi  is  equally  evident,  is 
not  attained  in  this  life.     It  is  no 
less  observable,  that  in  the  present 
state  there  is  an  unequal  distribu- 
tion of  things,  which  makes  the 
providences  of  God  very  intricate, 
and  which  cannot  be  solved  with- 
out supposing  a  future  state.    Re- 
velation, however,  puts  it  beyond 
all  doubt.   The  Divine  Being  hath 
promised  it,  1st  John  ii,  25.   1st 
John  v,    11.    James  i,    12.    hath 
given  us    some  intimation  of   its 
glory,  1st  Peter  i,  4.  Rev.  xxii, 
3,  .4.  declares   Christ  hath  taken 
possession  of  it  for  us,  Jolm  xiv,  2, 
S.  and  informs  us  of  some  already 
there,  both  as  to  their  bodies  and 
souls.  Gen.  v,  24.   2d  Kings  ii. 

Heaven  is  to  be  considered  as  a 
place ^  as  xuell  as  a  state:  it  is  ex- 
pressly so  termed  in  scripture, 
John  xiv,  2,  3  :  and  the  existence 
of  the  body  of  Christ,  and  those  of 
Enoch  and  Elijah,  is  a  farther  proof 
of  it.  Yea,  if  it  be  not  a  place,  where 
can  these  bodies  be  ?  and  where 
will  the  bodies  of  the  saints  exist 
after  the  resurrection  ?  Where  this 


place  \Sy  however,  cannot  be  deter- 
mined. Some  have  thought  it  to 
be  beyond  the  starry  firmament ; 
and  some  of  the  ancients  imagined 
that  their  dwelling  would  be  in  the 
sun.  Others  suppose  the  air  to 
be  the  seat  of  the  blessed.  Others 
think  that  the  saints  will  dwell 
upon  earth  when  it  shall  be  re- 
stored to  its  paradisaical  state ;  but 
these  suppositions  are  more  curi- 
ous than  edifying,  and  it  becomes 
us  to  be  silent  where  Divine  reve- 
lation is  so. 

Heaven^  hoxvever^  we  arc  assur- 
ed is  a  place  of  i)]expressible  felici- 
ty. The  names  given  to  it  are 
proofs  of  this  :  it  is  c?X\ed paradise^ 
Luke  xxiii,  43.  Light,  Rev.  xxi, 
23.  A  building-  and  7nansion  of  God, 
2d  Cor.  v,  1 .  John  xiv,  2.  A  city, 
Heb.  xi,  10,  16.  A  better  country ^ 
Heb.  xi,  16.  An  inheritance.  Acts 
XX,  32.  A  kingdom.  Matt,  xxv, 
34.  Acroxvn,  2d  Tim.  iv,  8.  Glory, 
Ps.  Ixxxiv,  11.  2d  Cor.  iv,  iV. 
Peace,  rest,  and  joy  of  the  Lord, 
Isa.  Ivii,  2.  Heb.  iv,  9.  Matt,  xxv, 
21,  23.  The  felicity  of  heaven  will 
consist  in  freedom  from  all  evil, 
both  of  soul  and  body,  Rev.  vii, 
last ;  in  the  enjoyment  of  God  as 
the  chief  good  ;  in  the  company  of 
angels  and  saints  ;  in  perfect  holi- 
ness, and  extensive  knowledge. 

It  has  been  disputed  -whether 
there  are  degrees  of  glory  in  heaven. 
The  arguments  against  degrees  are, 
that  all  the  people  of  God  are  lov- 
ed by  him  with  the  same  love,  all 
i  chosen  together  in  Christ,  equally 
I  interested  in  the  same  covenant  gf 
I  grace,  equally  redeemed  with  thfe 
I  same  price,  and  all  predestinated 
i  to  the  same  adoption  of  children  ; 
J  to  suppose  the  contrary,  it  is  said, 


HE  A 


331 


HE  A 


is  to  eclipse  the  glory  of  Divine 
grace,  and  carries  with  it  the  legal 
idea  of  being  rewarded  for  our 
works.  On  the  other  side  it  is 
observed,  that  if  the  above  reason- 
ing prove  any  thing,  it  would 
prove  too  much,  viz.  that  we 
should  all  be  upon  an  equality  in 
the  present  world  as  well  as  that 
which  is  to  come ;  for  we  are  now 
as  much  the  objects  of  the  same 
love,  purchased  by  the  same  blood, 
&c.,  as  we  shall  be  hereafter. 
That  rewards  contain  nothing  in- 
consistent with  the  doctrine  of 
grace,  because  those  very  works 
which  it  pleaseth  God  to  honour 
are  the  effects  of  his  own  opera- 
tion. That  all  rewards  to  a  guilty 
creature  have  respect  to  the  me- 
diation of  Christ.  That  God's 
graciously  connecting  blessings 
with  the  obedience  of  his  people, 
serves  to  shew  not  only  his  love  to 
Christ  and  to  them,  but  his  regard 
to  righteousness.  That  the  scrip- 
tures expressly  declare  for  degrees, 
Dan.  xii,  3.  Matt,  x,  41,  42.  Matt. 
xix,  28,  29.  Luke  xix,  16,  19. 
Rom.  ir,  6.  1st  Cor.  iii,  8.  1st 
Cor.  XV,  41,  42.  2d  Cor.  v,  10. 
Gal.  vi,  9. 

Another  question  has  sometimes 
been  proposed,  viz.  Whether  the 
uiints  shall  know  one  another  in 
heaven  P 

"  The  arguments,"  says  Dr. 
Rldgley,  "  which  are  generjilly 
brought  in  defence  of  it,  are  taken 
from  those  instances  recorded  in 
scripture,  in  which  persons,  who 
have  never  seen  one  another  before, 
have  immediately  known  each 
other  in  tliis  world,  by  a  special  Im- 
mediate divine  revelation  given  to 
them,    in  like  manner  as  Adam 


knew  that  Eve  was  taken  out  of 
him  ;  and  therefore  says,  This  is 
now  bone  of  my  bone^  andjlesh  of 
my  fesh :  she  shall  be  called  wontan^ 
because  she  xvas  taken  out  of  maUj 
Gen.  ii,  23.  He  was  cast  into  a 
deep  sleepy  when  God  took  one  of 
his  ribs,  and  so  formed  the  xvoman^ 
as  we  read  in  the  foregoing  words  j 
yet  the  knoAvledge  hereof  was 
communicated  to  him  by  God. 
Moreover,  we  read  that  Peter, 
James,  and  John,  knew  Moses  and 
Elias,  Matt,  xvii,  as  appears  from 
Peter's  making  a  particular  men- 
tion of  them  :  Let  us  make  three 
tabernacles;  one  for  thee,  one  for 
Moses,  and  one  for  Elias,  4th  ver. 
though  he  had  never  seen  theia 
before.  Again ;  our  Saviour,  in 
the  parable,  represents  the  rich 
man  as  seeing  Abraham  afar  off^ 
and  Lazarus  in  his  bosom,  Luke  xvi, 
23.  and  speaks  of  him  as  address- 
ing his  discourse  to  him.  From 
such  like  arguments,  some  con- 
clude that  it  may  be  inferred 
that  the  saints  shall  know  one  an- 
other in  heaven,  when  joined  to- 
gether in  the  same  assembly. 

"  Moreover,  some  think  that  this 
may  be  proved  from  the  apostle's 
words,  in  1st  Thess.  ii,  19,  20. 
What  is  our  hope  or  joy,  or  crown 
of  rejoicing  f  Are  not  even  ye  hi 
the  presence  of  our  Lord  Jesus 
Christ  at  his  coining  f  for  ye  are 
our  glorij  and  joy  ;  v.'hich  seems  to 
argue,  that  he  apprehended  their 
happiness  in  heaven  should  con- 
tribute, or  be  an  addition  to  his, 
as  he  was  made  an  instrument  to 
bring  them  thither  ;  even  so,  by  a 
parity  of  reason,  every  one  who 
has  been  insiTumental  in  the  con- 
version end  building  up  others  in 


HE  A 


332 


HE  A 


their  holy  faith,  as  the  apostle 
Paul  was  with  respect  to  them, 
theae  shall  tend  to  enhance  their 
pl-aise,  and  give  them  occasion 
to  glorify  God  on  their  behalf. 
Therefore  it  follows  that  they 
shall  know  one  another ;  and  con- 
sequently they  who  haVe  walked 
together  in  the  ways  of  God,  and 
have  been  useful  to  one  another  as 
relations  and  intimate  friends,  in 
wjhat  respects  more  especially  their 
spiritual  concerns,  these  shall  bless 
God  for  the  mutual  advantages 
which  they  have  received,  and 
consequently  shall  know  one  ano- 
ther. Again;  some  prove  this  from 
that  expression  of  our  Saviour  in 
Luke  xvi,  9.  Make  to  yourselves 
friends  of  the  mammon  of  unright- 
eousness^ that^  xvhen  ye  fad-,  they 
may  receive  you  into  everlasting 
habitations  ;  especially  if  by  these 
everlasting  habitations  be  meant 
heaven,  as  many  suppose  it  is;  and 
then  the  meaning  is,  that  they 
whona  you  have  relieved,  and 
shewn  kindness  to  in  this  world, 
shall  express  a  particular  joy  up- 
on your  being  admitted  into  hea- 
ven ;  and  consequently  they  shall 
know  you,  and  bless  God  for  your 
having  been  so  useful  and  benefi- 
cial to  them. 

"  To  this  it  is  objected,  that  if 
the  saints  shall  know  one  another 
in  heaven,  they  shall  know  that 
several  of  those  who  were  their 
intimate  friends  here  on  earth, 
whom  they  loved  with  a  very  great 
affection,  are  not  there  ;  and  this 
will  have  a  tendency  to  give  them 
some  uneasiness,  and  be  a  diminu- 
tion of  their  joy  and  happiness. 

"  To  this  it  may  be  replied,  that 
if   it  be  allowed'  that   the  saints 


shall  knov/  that  some  whom  the)^ 
loved  on  earth  are  not  in  hea- 
ven, this  will  give  them  no  un- 
easiness ;  since  that  affection  which 
took  its  rise  principally  from  the 
relation  which  we  stood  in  to  per- 
sons on  earth,  or  the  intimacy  that 
we  have  contracted  with  them,  will 
cease  in  another  v/orld,  or  rather 
run  in  another  channel,  and  be 
excitedby  superior  motives ;  name- 
ly, their  relation  to  Christ  ;  that 
perfect  holiness  which  they  are 
adorned  with  ;  their  being  joined 
in  the  same  blessed  society,  and 
engaged  in  the  same  employpaent: 
together  with  their  former  useful- 
ness one  to  another  in  promoting 
their  spiritual  welfare,  as  made 
subservient  to  the  happiness  they 
enjoy  there.  And  as  for  others, 
who  are  excluded  from  their  soci- 
ety, they  will  think  themselves 
obliged,  out  of  a  due  regard  to 
the  justice  and  holiness  of  God,  to 
acquiesce  in  his  righteous  judg- 
ments. Thus,  the  inhabitants  of 
heaven  are  represented  as  ador- 
ing the  Divine  perfections,  when 
the  vials  of  God's  wrath  were 
poured  out  upon  his  enemies,  and 
saying.  Thou  art  righteous^  0 
Lord^  because  thou  hast  judged 
thus;  true  and  righteous  -are  thy 
judgments^  Rev.  xvi,  5,  7. 

"  Another  question  has  been 
sometimes  asked,  viz.  Whether 
there  shall  be  a  diversity  of  lan- 
guages in  heaven,  as  there  is  on 
earth?  This  we  cannot  pretend  to 
determine.  Some  think  that  there 
shall ;  and  that,  as  persons  of  all 
nations  and  tongues  shall  make  up 
that  blessed  society,  so  they  shall 
praise  God  in  the  same  language 
which  thev  before  used  when  on 


HE  A 


33; 


HE  A 


earth  ;  and  that  this  worship  may 
be  performed  with  the  greatest 
harmony,  and  to  mutual  edifica- 
tion, all  the  saints  shall,  by  the 
immediate  power,  and  providence 
of  God,  be  able  to  understand 
and  make  use  of  every  one  of 
those  different  languages,  as  well 
as  their  own.  This  they  found  on 
the  apostle's  words,  in  v/hich  he 
says,  That  at  the  tiame  pf  Jesus 
every  knee  should,  bow,  and  that 
every  t07igue  should  confess  that 
Jesus  Christ  is  Lord;  which  they 
suppose  has  a  respect  to  the  hea- 
venly state,  because  it  is  said  to 
be  done  both  by  those  that  are 
in  heaven,  and  those  that  are  on 
earth,  Phil,  ii,  10,  11.  But  though 
the  apostle  speaks  by  a  metonymy 
of  different  tongues,  that  is,  per- 
sons who  speak  different  languages 
being  subject  to  Christ,  he, proba- 
bly means  thereby  persons  of  dif- 
ferent nations,  whether  they  shall 
praise  him  in  their  own  language 
in  heaven,  or  no.  Therefore 
some  conjecrare  that  the  diversity 
of  languages  shall  then  cease,  in- 
asmuch as  it  took  its  first  rise  from 
God's  judicial  hand,  when  he 
confounded  the  speech  of  those 
who  presumptuously  attempted  to 
build  the  city  and  tower  of  Babel  ; 
and  this  has  been  ever  since  at- 
tended with  many  inconveniences. 
And,  indeed,  the  apostle  seems  ex- 
pressly to  intimate  as  much,  when 
he  says,  speaking  concerning  the 
heavenly  state,  that  tongues  shall 
cease,  1st  Cor.  xiii,  8.  that  is,  the 
present  variety  of  languages.— 
Moreover,  since  the  gift  of  tongues 
v/as  bestowed  on  the  apostles  for 
the  gathering  and  building  up  the 
church   in  the    first  age   thereof. 


which  end,  when  it  was  ansv/er- 
ed,  this  extraordinary  dispensation 
ceased  ;  in  like  manner  it  is  pro- 
bable that  hereafter  the  diversity 
of  languages  shall  cease." 

"  I  am  sensible,"  says  Dr.  Ridg- 
ley,  "  there  are  some  who  object 
to  this,  that  the  saints'  understand- 
ing all  languages  will  be  an  addi- 
tion to  their  honour,  glory,  and 
happiness.  But  to  this  it  may  be 
answered,  that  though  it  is,  in- 
deed, an  accomplishment,  in  this 
world,  for  a  person  to  understand 
several  languages,  that,  arises  from 
the  subserviency  thereof  to  those 
valuable  ends  that  are  answered 
thereby  ;  but  this  would  be  entire- 
ly removed,  if  the  diversity  of  lan- 
guages be  taken  away  in  heaven, 
as  some  suppose  it  will." 

"  There  are  some,  v/ho,  it  may 
be,  give  too  much  scope  to  a  vain 
curiosity,  when  they  pretend  to 
enquire  v/hat  this  language  shall 
be,  or  determine,  as  the  Jews  do, 
and  with  them  some  of  the  fathers, 
that  it  shall  be  Hebrew,  since  their 
arguments  for  it  are  not  sufficiently 
conclusive,  which  are  principally 
these,  viz.,  That  .this  was  the  lan- 
guage with  which  God  inspired 
man  at  first  in  paradise,  and  that 
which  the  saints  and  patriarchs 
spake,  and  the  church  generally 
made  use  of  in  all  ages  till  our 
Saviour's  time  ;"  and  that  it  was 
this  language  which  he  h.imself 
spake  while  here  on  earth  ;  and 
since  his  ascension  into  heaven, 
he  spake  unto  Paul  in  the  Hebretv 
tongme.  Acts  xxvi,  14.  And  when 
the  inhabitants  of  heaven  are  de- 
scribed in  the  Revelations  as  prais- 
ing Gocl,  there  is  one  word  used 
by  which  their  praise  is  expressed. 


HEL 


134 


HEL 


namely,  Hallelujah,  which  is  He- 
brew ;  the  meaning  whereof  is, 
Praise  ye  the  Lord.  Bat  all  these 
arguments  are  not  sufficiently  con- 
vincing-, and  therefore  we  must 
reckon  it  no  more  than  a  conjec- 
ture." 

However  undecided  we  mav  be 
iiB  to  this  and  some  other  circum- 
stances, this  we  maybe  assured  of, 
that  the  happiness  of  heaven  xuill  be 
eternal.  Whether  it  will  be  pro- 
gressive or  not,  and  that  the  saints 
shall  always  be  increasing  in  their 
knowledge,  joy,  &c.,  is  not  so 
clear.  Some  suppose  that  this  in- 
dicates an  imperfection  in  the  fe- 
licity of  the  saints  for  any  addi- 
tion to  be  made;  but  others  think 
it  quite  analogous  to  the  dealings 
of  God  with  us  here  ;  and  that, 
from  the  nature  of  the  mind  it- 
self, it  may  be  concluded.  But 
however  this  be,  it  is  certain  that 
our  happiness  will  be  complete, 
1st  Pet.  V,  10.  1st  Pet.  v,  4.  Heb. 
xi,  JO.  JVatts\9  Death  and  Hea- 
ven; GiWs  Body  of  Divinity^  vol. 
ii,  p.  495 ;  Saiirvi*s  Ser.,  vol. 
iii,  p.  321  ;  Toplady\s  Works ^  vol. 
iii,  p.  471  ;  Bates's  Works  ;  Ridg- 
ley^s  Body  of  Divinity^  quest.  90. 

HEBREWS.     See  Jews. 

HELL,  the  place  of  Divine  pu- 
nishment after  death.  As  all  reli- 
gions have  supposed  a  future  state 
of  existence  after  this  life,  so  all 
have  their  hell,  orplaceof  toi-mcnt, 
in  which  the  wicked  are  to  be  pu- 
nished. Even  the  Heathens  had 
t\\€\r  tartara ;  and  the  Mahome- 
tans, Vv^e  find,  believe  the  eternity 
of  rewards  and  punishments  :  it 
is  not,  therefore,  a  sentiment  pecu- 
liar to  Christianity. 

There  have  beexi  many  curious 


arid  useless  conjectures  respecting 
the  place  of  the  damned ;  the  an- 
cients generally  supposed  it  was  a 
region  of  fire  near  the  centre  of 
the  earth.  Mr.  Swinden  endea- 
voured to  prove  that  il  is  seated 
in  the  sun.  Mr.  Whiston  advanc- 
ed a  new  and  strange  hypothesis; 
according  to  him,  the  comets  are 
so  many  hells,  appointed  in  their 
orbits  alternately  to  carry  the 
damned  to  the  confines  of  the  sun, 
there  to  be  scorched  by  its  violent 
heat ;  and  then  to  return  with 
them  beyond  the  orb  of  Saturn, 
there  to  starve  them  in  those  cold 
and  dismal  regions.  But,  as  Dr. 
Doddridge  observes,  we  must  here 
confess  our  ignorance  ;  and  shall 
be  much  better  employed  in  study- 
ing how  we  may  avoid  this  place 
of  horror,  than  in  labouring  to 
discover  where  it  is. 

Of  the  nature  cf  this  punishment 
we  may  form  some  idea  from  the 
expressions  made  use  of  in  scrip- 
ture. It  is  called  a  place  of  tor- 
ment, Luke  xvi,  28.  the  bottom- 
less pit,  Rev.  XX,  3  to  6.  a  prison, 
1st  Pet.  iii,  19.  darkness.  Matt. 
viii,  12.  Jud.  13.  fire,  Matt,  xiii, 
42,  50.  a  Tv^orm  that  never  dies, 
Mark  ix,  44,  48.  the  second 
death,  Rev.  xxi,  8.  the  wrath  of 
God,  Rom.  ii,  5.  It  has  been  de- 
bated, whether  there  will  be  ma- 
terial fire  in  hell  ?  On  the  affirma- 
tive side  it  is  observed,  that  fire 
and  brimstone  ai'e  represented  as 
the  ingredients  of  the  torment  of 
the  wicked.  Rev.  xiv,  10,  11.  Rev. 
XX,  10.  That  as  the  body  is  to  be 
raised,  and  the  whole  man  to  be 
condemned,  it  is  reasonable  to  be- 
lieve there  will  be  some  corporeal 
punishment  provided,  and  there- 


HEL 


335 


HE 


fore  probably  material  fire.  On  1 
the  negative  side  it  is  alleged,  that 
the  terras  above-mentioned  are 
metaphorical,  and  signify  no  more 
than  raging  desire  or  acute  pain  ; 
and  that  the  Divine  Being  can 
sufficiently  punish  the  wicked,  by 
immediately  acting  on  their  minds, 
or  rather  leaving  them  to  the  guilt 
and  stings  of  their  own  conscience. 
According  to  several  passages,  it 
seems  there  will  be  different  de- 
grees of  punishment  m  hell,  Luke 
xii,  47.  Rom.  ii,  12.  Matt,  x,  20, 
21.  Matt,  xii,  25,  32.  Heb.  x, 
28,  29. 

As  to  its  duration,  it  has  been 
obsei'ved  that  it  cannot  be  eter- 
nal, because  there  is  no  propor- 
tion between  temporary  crimes 
and  eternal  punishments  ;  that  the 
word  everlasting  is  not  to  be  taken 
in  its  utmost  extent ;  and  that  it 
signifies  no  more  than  a  long  time, 
or  a  time  whose  precise  boundary 
is  unknown.  But  in  answer  to  this 
it  is  alleged,  that  the  same  word 
is  used,  and  that  sometimes  in  the 
very  same  place,  to  express  the 
eternity  of  the  happiness  of  the 
righteous,  and  the  eternity  of  the 
misery  of  the  wicked  ;  and  that 
there  is  no  reason  to  believe  that 
the  words  express  two  such  differ- 
ent ideas,  as  standing  in  the  same 
connexion.  Besides,  it  is  not 
true,  it  is  observed,  that  temporary 
crimes  do  not  deserve  eternal  pu- 
nishments, because  the  infinite 
majesty  of  an  offended  God  adds 
a  kind  of  infinite  evil  to  sin,  and 
therefore  exposes  the  sinner  to  in- 
finite punishment ;  and  that  here- 
by God  vindicates  his  injured  ma- 
jesty, and  glorifies  his  justice.  See 
articles     Destuuctionists     and 


Univeb-salists.  Berry  St.  Lee, 
vol.  ii,  p.  559,  562  ;  Daives  on 
Hell.,  ser.  x;  Whist  on  on  ditto; 
Svjinden^  Drexelit^s^  and  Edwards  . 
on  ditto.  A  late  popular  writer 
has  observed,  that  in  the  35th  ser- 
mon of  Tillotson  every  thing  is 
said  upon  the  eternity  of  hell  tor- 
ments that  can  be  known  with  any 
certainty. 

HELL,  Chrisfs  descent  into. 
That  Christ  locally  descended  into 
hell,  is  a  doctrine  believed  not  only 
by  the  Papists,  butby  many  among 
the  reformed.  1.  The'text  chiefly 
brought  forward  in  support  of  this 
doctrine  is  the  1st  Peter  iii,  19. 
"  By  which  he  went  and  preached 
to  the  spirits  in  prison  ;"  but  it 
evidently  appears  that  the  "  spi- 
rit" there  mentioned  was  not 
Christ's  human  soul,  but  a  divine 
nature,  or  rather  the  Holy  Spirit 
(by  which  he  was  quickened,  and 
raised  from  the  dead);  and  by  the 
inspiration  of  which,  granted  to 
Noah,  he  preached  to  those  noto- 
rious sinners  who  are  now  in  the 
prison  of  hell  for  their  disobedi- 
ence. 

2,  Christ,  when  on  the  cross, 
promised  the  penitent  thief  his 
presence  that  day  in  paradise ;  and 
accordingly,  when  he  died,  he 
committed  his  soul  into  his  hea- 
venly Father's  hand  :  in  heaven 
therefore,  and  not  in  hell,  we  are 
to  seek  the  separate  spirit  of  our 
Redeemer  in  this  period,  Luke 
xxiii,  43,  46. 

3.  Had  our  Lord  descended  to 
preach  to  the  damned,  there  is  no 
supposable  reason  why  the  unbe- 
lievers in  Noah's  time  only  should 
be  mentioned  rather  than  those  of 
Sodom,  and  the  unhappy  multi- 


HEL 


)36 


HEM 


tude  that  died  in  sin.  But  it  may 
be  said,  do  not  both  the  Old  and 
New  Testaments  intimate  this  ? 
Ps.  xvi,  iO.  Acts  ii,  34.  Bat  it 
may  be  answered,  that  the  words 
"  thou  wiit  not  leave  my  soul  in 
hell,"  may  be  explained  (as  is 
the  manner  of  the  Hebrew  poets) 
in  the  following  vt^ords :  "  Neither 
wilt  thou  suffer  thine  holy  one  to 
see  corruption."  So  the  same 
words  are  used  Ps.  Ixxxix,  48. — - 
*'  What  man  is  he  that  liveth,  and 
shall  not  see  death  ?  shall  he  deli- 
ver.his  soul  from  the  hand  of  the 
grave  ?"  In  the  Hebrew  ("jixcf), 
the  word  coinmonly  rendered  hell 
properly  si^gnifics  "  the  invisible 
state,"  as  our  word  hell  origi- 
nally did  ;  -and  the  other  v/ord 
(iS7£!j)  signifies  not  always  the  im- 
mortal soul,  but  the  animal  frame 
in  general,  cither  living  or  dead. 
Bishop  Pearson  and  Dr.  Barrow 
on  the  Creed ;  Edxvards' s  Hist,  of 
Redemption^  notes  p.  351,  o77 ; 
Ridgleifs  Body  of  Div.,  p.  308, 
3d  edit.;  Doddridge  and  Guise  on 
1st  V&X.  iii,  19. 

HELLENISTS,  a  term  occur- 
ring in  the  Greek  text  of  the  Nevv^ 
Testament,  and  which  in  the  Eng- 
lish version  is  rendered  Grecians, 
Actsyi,  1.  The  critics  are  divided 
as  to  the  signification  of  the  word. 
3ome  observe,  that  it  is  not  to  be 
understood  as  signifying  those  of 
the  religion  of  the  Greeks,  but 
those  who  spoke  Greek,  The  au- 
thors of  the  Vulgate  version  ren- 
der it  like  our  Gr^cz/  but  Mes- 
sieurs Du  Port  Royal,  more  ac- 
curately, yuifs  Grecs^  Greek  or 
(jrecian  Jews  ;  it  being,  the  Jews 
who  spoke  Greek  that  are  here 
treated  of,  and  who  are  hereby 


distinguished  from  the  Jews  called 
Hebrews^  that  is,  who  spoke  the 
Hebrew  tongue  of  that  time. 

The  Hellenists,  or  Grecian  Jews, 
were  those  who  lived  in  Egypt, 
and  other  parts  where  the  Greek 
tongue  prevailed :  it  is  to  them  we 
owe  the  Greek  version  of  the  Old 
Testament,  commonly  called  the 
Septuagint^  or  that  of  the  Se- 
venty. 

Salmasius  and  Vossius  are  of  a 
different  sentiment  with  regard  to 
the  Hellenists ;  the  latter  will 
only  hav«  them  to  be  those  who 
adhered  to  the  Grecian  interests. 
Scaliger  is  represented  in  the  Sca- 
ligerana  as  asserting  the  Hellenists, 
to  be  the  Jev^^s  who  lived  in  Greece 
and  other  places,  and  who  read 
the  Greek  Bible  in  their  syna- 
gogue, and  used  the  Greek  lan- 
guage in  sacris ;  and  thus  they 
were  opposed  to  the  Hebrew  Jews, 
who  performed  their  public  wor- 
ship in  the  Hebrew  tongue  ;  and 
in  this  sense  St.  Paul  speaks  of 
himself  as  a  Hebrew  of  the"  He- 
brews, Phil,  iii,  5,  6.— 2.  A  He- 
brevv'  both  by  nation  and  language. 
The  Hellenists  are  thus  properly 
distinguished  h'om  the  Hellenes,  or 
Greeks,  mentioned  John  xii,  20. 
who  Avere  Greeks  by  birth  and 
nation,  and  yet  proselytes  to  the 
Jewish  religion. 

HEMEROBAPTISTS,asect 
among  the  ancient  Jews,  thus  call- 
ed from  their  washing  and  bathing 
every  day,  in  all  seasons ;  and 
performing  this  custom  vvith  the 
I  greatest  solemnity,  as  a  religious 
rite  necessary  to  salvation. 

Epiphanius,  who  mentions  this 
as  the  fourth  heresy  among  the 
Jev/3,    observes,    that    in    other 


HEN 


337 


HER 


points  these  heretics  had  much  the 
same  opinion  as  the  Scribes  and 
Pharisees  ;  only  that  they  denied 
the  resurrection  of  the  dead,  in 
common  with  the  Sadducees,  and 
retained  a  few  other  of  the  im- 
proprieties of  these  last. 

The  sect  who  pass  in  the  East 
under  the  denomination  of  Sa- 
bians,  calling  themselves  Mendai 
liahi^  or  the  disciples  of  St.  John, 
and  whom  the  Europeans  entitle 
the  christians  of  St.  John,  because 
they  yet  retain  some  knowledge  of 
the  gospel,  is  probably  of  Jewish 
origin,  and  seems  to  have  been  de- 
rived from  the  ancient  Hemero- 
baptists  ;  at  least  it  is  certain  that 
John,  whom  they  consider  as 
the  founder  of  their  sect,  bears  no 
sort  of  similitude  to  John  the 
Baptist,  but  rather  resembles  the 
person  of  that  name  whom  the 
ancient  writers  present  as  the 
chief  of  the  Jewish  Hemerobap- 
tists.  These  ambiguous  christians 
dwell  in  Persia  and  Arabia,  and 
principally  at  Bassora  ;  and  their 
religion  consists  in  bodily  wash- 
ings, perfonned  frequently,  and 
with  great  solemnity,  and  attend- 
ed with  certain  ceremonies  which 
the  priests  mingle  with  this  super- 
stitious service. 

HENOTICON,  a  famous  edict 
of  the  emperor  Zeno,  published 
A.  D.  482,  and  intended  to  recon- 
cile and  re-unite  the  Eutychians 
with  the  Catholics.  It  was  procu- 
red of  the  emperor  by  means  of 
Acacius,  patriarch  of  Constanti- 
nople, with  the  assistance  of  the 
friends  of  Peter  Mongus  and  Peter 
TruUo.  The  sting  of  this  edict  lies 
here  ;  that  it  repeats  and » con- 
firms all  that  had  been  enacted  in 

Vol.  I.  X  X 


the  councils  of  Nice,  Constanti- 
nople, Ephesus,  and  Chalcedon, 
against  the  Arians,  Nestorians, 
and  Eutychians,  without  making 
any  particular  mention  of  the 
council  of  Chalcedon.  It  is  in 
the  form  of  a  letter,  addressed  by 
Zeno  to  the  bishops,  priests., 
monks,  and  people  of  Egj^pt  and 
Lybia.  It  was  opposed  by  the 
Catholics,  and  condemned  in  form 
by  pope  Felix  II. 

HENRICIANS,  a  sect  so  call- 
ed from  Henry,  its  founder,  who, 
though  a  monk  and  hermit,  un- 
dertook to  reform  the  superstition 
and  vices  of  the  clergy.  For  this 
purpose  he  left  Lausanne,  in  Swit- 
zerland, and,  removing  from  dif- 
ferent places,  at  length  settled  at 
Thoulouse,  in  the  year  1 147,  and 
there  exercised  his  ministerial 
function  ;  till  being  overcome  by 
the  opposition  of  Bernard,  abbot 
of  Clairval,  and  condemned  by 
pope  Eugenius  III,  at  a  council 
assembled  at  Rheims,  he  was  com- 
mitted to  a  close  prison  in  1148, 
where  he  soon  ended  his  days. 
This  reformer  rejected  the  bap- 
tism of  infants,  sevex*ely  censtij^ed 
the  corrupt  manners  of  the  cler- 
gy, treated  the  festivals  and  cere- 
monies of  the  church  with  the 
utmost  contempt,  and  held  pri- 
vate assemblies  for  inculcating  his 
peculiar  doctrines. 

HERACLEONITES,  a  sect  of 
christians,  the  followers  of  Hera- 
cleon,  who  refined  upon  the  Gnos- 
tic divinity,  and  maintained  that 
the  v/orld  was  not  the  immediate 
production  of  the  Son  of  God,  but 
that  he  was  only  the  occasiona!! 
cause  of  its  being  created  by  the 
dcmiurgus.  The  Heracleonitesdc- 


HER 


338 


HER 


iiied  tlie  authority  of  the  prophe- 
cies of  the  Old  Testament ;  main- 
tained that  they  were  mere  ran- 
dom sounds  in  the  air  ;  and  that 
St.  John  the  Baptist  was  the  only 
true  voice  th^X  directed  to  the 
Messiah. 

HERESIARCH,  an  arch  here- 
tic, the  founder  or  inventor  of  an 
heresy-;  or  a  chief  of  a  sect  of  her- 
etics. 

HERESY.  This  word  signi- 
fies sect  or  choice :  it  was  not  in 
.  its  earliest  acceptation  conceived 
to  convey  any  reproach,  since  it 
was  indifferently  used  either  of  a 
party  approved,  or  of  one  disap- 
proved by  the  writer.  See  Acts  v, 
17.  Acts  XV,  3.  Afterwards  it  was 
generally  used  to  signify  some  fun- 
damental error  adhered  to  with  ob- 
stinacy, 2d  Pet.  ii,  1.  Gal.  v,  20. 

According  to  the  law  of  this 
kingdom,  heresy  consists  in  a  de- 
nial of  some  of  the  essential  cjoc- 
trines  of  Christianity  publicly  and 
obstinately  avowed.  It  must  be 
acknowledged,  hov?ever,  that  par- 
ticular modes  of  belief  or  unbe- 
lief, not  tending  to  overturn 
Christianity,  or  to  sap  the  founda- 
tions of  morality,  are  by  no  means 
the  object  of  coercion  by  the  civil 
magistrate.  What  doctrines  shall 
therefore  be  adjudged  heresy,  was 
left  by  our  old  constitution  to  the 
determination  of  the  ecclesiastical 
judge,  who  had  herein  a  most  ar- 
bitrary latitude  allowed  him  ;  for 
the  general  definition  of  an  here- 
tic, given  by  Lyndev/ode,  extends 
to  the  smallest  deviations  from  the 
doctrines  of  the  holy  church  : 
^'  Hereticus  est  qui  diibitat  de  fide 
catholica^  et  qui  negligit  scrvare  ea, 
qiict  Romana  ccclesiastatuitf  seuser- 


vare  decreverat  .•"  or,  as  the  sta- 
tute, 2  Hen.  IV,  cap.  15,  expres- 
ses it  in  English,  "  teachers  of  er- 
roneous opinions,  contrary  to  the 
faith  and  blessed  determinations  of 
the  holy  church."  Very  contrary 
this  to  the  usage  of  the  first  gene- 
ral councils,  which  defined  all  he- 
retical doctrines  with  the  utmost 
precision  and  exactness ;  and 
what  ought  to  have  alleviated  the 
punishment,  the  uncertainty  of 
the  crime,  seems  to  have  enhanc- 
ed it  in  those  days  of  blind  zeal 
and  pious  cruelty.  The  sanctimo- 
nious hypocrisy  of  the  Canonists, 
indeed,  went,  at  first,  no  farther 
than  enjoiningpenance,  excommu- 
nication, and  ecclesiastical  depriva- 
tion, for  heresy ;  but  afterwards 
they  proceeded  boldly  to  imprison- 
ment bythe  ordinary,  andcpnfisca- 
tion  of  goods  \n  pios  iisiis.  But  in 
the  mean  time  they  had  prevailed 
upon  the  weakness  of  bigoted 
princes  to  make  the  civil  power 
subservient  to  their  purposes,  by 
making  heresy  not  only  a  tempo- 
ral but  even  a  capital  oflFence  j 
the  Romish  ecclesiastics  deter- 
mining, without  appeal,  whatever 
they  pleased  to  be  heresy,  and 
shifting  off  to  the  secular  arm  the 
odium  and  drudgery  of  execu- 
tions, with  which  they  pretended 
to  be  too  tender  and  delicate  to 
intermeddle.  Nay,  they  affected 
to  intercede  on  behalf  of  the  con- 
victed heretic,  well  knowing  that 
at  the  same  time  they  were  deliv- 
ering the  unhappy  victim  to  cer- 
tain death.  See  Act  of  Faith. 
Hence  the  capital  punishments  in- 
flicted on  the  ancient  Donatists 
and  Manichseans  by  the  emperors 
Theodosius  and  Justinian  ;  hence, 


HER 


339 


HER 


also,  the  constitution  of  the  em- 
peror Frederic  mentioned  by  Lyn- 
dewode,    adjudging   all   persons, 
without  distinction,   to  be  burnt 
with  fire,  who  were  convicted  of 
heresy  by  the  ecclesiastical  judge. 
The   same   emperor,    in  another 
constitution,  ordained,  that  if  any 
temporal  lord,  when  admonished 
by  the  church,  should  neglect  to 
clear   his  territories    of   heretics 
within  a  year,  it  should  be  lawful 
for  good  Catholics  to  seize  and  oc- 
cupy the  lands,  and  utterly  to  ex- 
terminate the  heretical  possessors. 
And  upon  this    foundation    was 
built  that  arbitrary  power,  so  long 
claimed,  and  so  fatally  exerted  by 
the  pope,  of  disposing  even  of  the 
kingdoms  of  refractory  princes  to 
more  dutiful  sons  of  the  church. 
The  immediate  event  of  this  con- 
stitution serves  to  illustrate  at  once 
the  gratitude  of  the  holy  see,  and 
the  just  punishment  of  the  royal 
bigot ;  for,  upon  the  authority  of 
this  very  Constitution,  the  pope 
afterward-s  expelled  this  very  em- 
peror Frederic  from  his  kingdom 
of  Sicily,  and  gave  it  to  Charles 
of  Anjou.  Christianity  being  thus 
deformed  by  the  daemon  of  perse- 
cution  upon   the    continent,    our 
own  island  could   not  esCape   its 
scourge.     Accordingly  we  find  a 
writ  de  haretico  comburendo^  i.  e.  of 
burning   the    heretic.       See  that 
article.     But  the  king  might  par- 
don  the   convict  by    issuing    no 
process  against  him  ;  the  writ  de 
h(eretico  co7nbiirendo  being  not  a 
writ  of  course;,  but  issuing  only  by 
the  special   direction  of  the  king 
in    counciL       In    the    reign    of 
Henry  IV,  when  the  eyes  of  the 
christian  world  began  to  open,  and 


the  seeds  of  the  Protestant  reli- 
gion (under  the  opprobrious  name 
of  LollardyJ  took  root  in  this 
kingdom,  the  clergy  taking  advan- 
tage from  the  king's  dubious  title 
to  demand  an  increase  of  their 
own  power,  obtained  an  act  of 
parliament,  which  sharpened  the 
edge  of  persecution  to  its  ut- 
most keenness.  See  H^retico 
CoMBURENDO.  By  Statute  2, 
Henry  V,  c.  /,  Lollardy  was 
also  made  a  temporal  offence,  and 
indictable  in  the  king's  courts ; 
which  did  not  thereby  gain  an 
exclusive,  but  only  a  concur- 
rent jurisdiction  with  the  bi- 
shop's consistory.  Afterwards, 
when  the  reformation  began  to 
advance,  the  power  of  the  ecclesi- 
astics was  somewhat  moderated ; 
for  though  what  heresy  is  was  not 
then  precisely  defined,  yet  we  are 
told  in  some  points  what  it  is  not ; 
the  statute  25,  Hen.  VIII,  c.  14, 
declaring  that  offences  against 
the  see  of  Rome  are  not  heresy ; 
and  the  ordinary  being  thereby 
restrained  from  proceeding  in  any 
case  upon  mere  suspicion  ;  i.i  e. 
unless  the  party  be  accused  by 
two  credible  witnesses,  or  an  in- 
dictment of  heresy  be  first  previ- 
ously found  in  the  king's  courts 
of  common  law.  And  yet  the  spi- 
rit of  persecution  was  not  abated, 
but  only  diverted  into  a  lay  chan- 
nel ;  for  in  six  years  afterwards, 
by  Stat.  31,  Hen.  VIII,  c.  14,  the 
bloody  law  of  the  six  articles  was 
made,  which  were  "  determined 
and  resolved  by  the  most  godly 
study,  pain,  and  travail  of  his 
majesty;  for  which  his  most  hum- 
ble and  obedient  subjects,  the 
J  lords  spiritual  and  temporal,  and 


HE 


340 


HER 


the  commons  in  parliament  us- 
sembled,  did  render  and  give  mito 
his  highness  their  most  high  and 
hearty  thanks !"  The  same  statute 
established  a  mixed  jurisdiction 
of  clergy  and  laity  for  the  trial 
and  conviction  of  heretics ;  Henry 
being  equally  intent  on  destroying 
the  supremacy  of  the  bishops  ot 
Rome,  and  establishing  all  their 
other  corruptions  of  the  christian 
religion.  Without  recapitulating 
the  various  repeals  and  revivals 
of  these  sanguinary  laws  in  the  two 
succeeding  reigns,  we  proceed  to 
the  reign  of  Q.  Elizabeth,  when 
the  reformation  was  finally  esta- 
blished with  temper  and  de- 
cency, unsullied  with  party  ran- 
cour or  personal  resentment. — 
By  Stat.  1  Eliz.,  c.  1,  all  former 
statutes  relating  to  heresy  are  re- 
pealed ;  which  leaves  the  juris- 
diction of  heresy  as  it  stood  at 
common  law,  viz.  as  to  the  inflic- 
tion of  common  censures  in  the 
ecclesiastical  courts  ;  and  in  case 
of  burning  the  heretic,  in  the  pro- 
vincial synod  only.  Sir  Matthevv' 
Hale  is,  indeed,  of  a  different  opi- 
nion, and  holds  that  such  power 
resided  in  the  diocesan  also  ; 
though  he  agrees  that  in  either 
case  the  writ  de  haretico  comburen- 
do  was  not  demandable  of  common 
right,  but  grantable  or  otherwise 
merely  at  the  king's  discretion. 
But  the  principal  point  now  gained 
was-,  that  by  this  statute  a  boundary 
was  for  the  first  time  set  to'  what 
should  be  accounted  heresy  ;  no- 
thing for  the  future  being  to  be  so 
determined,  but  only  such  tenets 
which  have  been  heretofore  so  de- 
clared,— I.  by  the  ^vords  of  the 
canor.ical   scriptures  ; — 2.  bv  the 


first  four  general  councils,  or  such 
others  as  have  only  used  the  words 
of  the  holy  scriptures  ;  or, — 3. 
which  shall  hereafter  be  so  declar- 
ed by  the  parliament,  with  the  as- 
sent of  the  clergy  in  convocation. 
Thus  was  heresy  reduced  to  a 
greater  certainty  than  before, 
though  it  might  not  have  been  the 
worse  to  have  defined  it  in  terms 
still  more  precise  and  particular  ; 
as  a  man  continued  still  liable  to 
be  burnt  for  what,  perhaps,  he  did 
not  understand  to  be  heresy,  till 
the  ecclesiastical  judge  so  inter- 
preted the  words  of  the  canonical 
scriptures.  For  the  writ  de  htzre- 
t'lco  comhurendo  remained  still  in 
force,  till  it  was  totally  abolished, 
and  heresy  again  subjected  only  to 
ecclesiastical  correction,'/'?'©  salute 
anima^  by  stat.  29,  Car.  II,  c.  9  ; 
when,  in  one  and  the  same  reign, 
our  lands  were  delivered  from  the 
slavery  of  military  tenures  ;  our 
bodies  from  arbitrary  imprison- 
ment by  the  habeas  corpus  act ; 
and  our  minds  from  the  tyranny 
or  superstitious  bigotry,  by  de- 
molishing this  large  badge  of 
persecution  in  the  English  law. 
Every  thing  is  now  less  exception- 
able, with  respect  to  the  spiri- 
tual cognizance  and  spiritual  pu- 
nishment of  heresy  ;  unless,  per- 
haps, that  the  crime  ought  to  be 
more  strictly  defined,  and  no  pro- 
secution permitted,  even  in  the 
ecclesiastical  courts,  till  the  tenets 
in  question  are  by  proper  autho- 
rity previously  declared  to  be  he- 
retical. Under  these  restrictions, 
some  think  it  necessary,  for  the 
support  of  the  national  religion, 
that  the  officers  of  the  church 
should  have  power  to  censure  he- 


HER 


341 


HER 


retics ;  yet  not  to  harass  them 
with  temporal  penalties,  much 
less  to  exterminate  or  destroy 
them.  The  legislature  has,  indeed, 
thought  it  proper  that  the  civil 
magistrate  should  interpose  with 
regard  to  one  species  of  heresy, 
very  prevalent  in  modern  times  ; 
for  by  Stat.  9  and  10,  W.  Ill,  c. 
32,  if  any  person,  educated  in  the 
christian  religion,  or  professing  the 
same,  shall,  by  writing,  printing, 
teaching,  or  advised  speaking,  deny 
any  one  of  the  persons  in  the 
Holy  Trinity  to  be  God,  or  main- 
tain that  there  are  more  Gods  than 
one,  he  shall  undergo  the  same 
penalties  and  incapacities  which 
were  inflicted  on  apostacy  by  the 
same  statute,  Enc.  Brit.;  Dr.  Fos- 
ter and  Stebbing  on  Heresy  ;  Hal- 
let  fs  Discourses^  vol.  iii.  No.  9,  p. 
358,  408;  Dr.  CampbeWs  Prel. 
Dis.  to  the  Gospels. 

HERETIC,  a  general  name  for 
all  such  persons  under  any  reli- 
gion, but  especially  the  christian, 
as  profess  or  teach  opinions  con- 
trary to  the  established  faith,  or 
to  what  is  made  the  standard  of 
orthodoxy.  See  last  article,  and 
Lardner^s  History  of  the  Heretics 
of  the  two  first  Centuries. 

HERMIANI,  a  sect  in  the  se- 
cond century  ;  so  called  from  their 
leader  Hermias.  One  of  their  dis- 
tinguishing tenets  was,  that  God 
is  corporeal ;  another,  that  Jesus 
Christ  did  not  ascend  into  heaven 
with  his  body,  but  left  it  in  the  sun. 
HERMIT,  a  person  who  retires 
into  solitude  for  the  purpose  of 
devotion.  Who  were  the  first  her- 
mits cannot  easil)''  be  known ; 
though  Paul,  surnamcd  the  her- 
mit, is  generally  reckoned  the  first. 


The  persecutions  of  Dccius  and 
Valerian  have  supposed  to  have 
occasioned  their  first  rise. 

HERMOGENIANS,  a  sect 
of  ancient  heretics  ;  denominated 
from  their  leader  Hermogenes, 
who  lived  towards  the  close  of  the 
second  century.  Hermogenes  es- 
tablished matter  as  his  first  prin- 
ciple; and  regarding  matter  as 
the  fountain  of  all  evil,  he  main- 
tained that  the  v/orld,  and  every 
thing  contained  in  it,  as  also  the 
souls  of  men  and  other  spirits, 
were  formed  by  the  Deity  from  an 
uncreated  and  eternal  mass  of  cor- 
rupt matter.  The  opinions  of 
Hermogenes  with  regard  to  the 
origin  of  the  world,  and  the  na- 
ture of  the  soul,  were  warmly  op- 
posed by  Tertullian. 

HE RNH  UTTERS.  See  Mo- 
ravians. 

HERODIANS,  a  sect  among 
the  Jews,  at  the  time  of  our  Sa- 
viour, Matt,  xxii,  16.  Mark  iii,  6. 
The  critics  and  commentators  are 
very  much  divided  with  regard  to 
the  Herodians.  St.  Jerome,  in  his 
dialogue  against  the  Luciferians, 
takes  the  name  to  have  been  given 
to  such  as  owned  Herod  for  the 
Messiah;  and  Tertullian  and 
Epiphanius  are  of  the  same  opi- 
nion. But  the  same  Jerome,  in 
his  comment  on  St.  Matthew, 
treats  this  opinion  as  ridiculous  ; 
and  maintains  that  the  Pharisees 
gave  this  appellation,  by  way  of 
ridicule,  to  Herod's  soldiers,  who 
paid  tribute  to  the  Romans ;  agree- 
able to  which  the  Syrian  interpre- 
ters render  the  word  by  the  domes- 
tics of  Herody  i.  e.  "  his  cour- 
tiers." M.  Simon,  in  his  notes  on 
the  22d  chapter  of  Ivlatthew,  ad- 


HEX 


H  EX 


vances  a  more  probable  opinion : 
the  name  Herodian  he  imagines  to 
have  been  given  to  such  as  adher- 
ed to  Herod's  party  and  interest, 
and  were  for  preserving  the  go- 
vernment in  his  family,  about 
which  were  great  divisions  among 
the  Jews.  F.  Hardouin  will  have 
the  Herodians  and  Sadducees  to 
have  been  the  same.  Dr.  Pri- 
deaux  is  of  opinion  that  they  de- 
rived their  name  from  Herod  the 
Great ;  and  that  they  were  distin- 
guished from  the  other  Jews  by 
their  concurrence  with  Herod's 
scheme  of  subjecting  himself  and 
his  dominions  to  the  Romans,  and 
likev/ise  by  complying  with  many 
of  their  heathen  usages  and  cus- 
toms. This  symbolizing  with 
idolatry  upon  views  of  interest  and 
worldly  policy  was  probably  that 
leaven  of  Herod,  against  which 
our  Saviour  cautioned  his  disci- 
ples. It  is  farther  probable  that 
they  were  chiefly  of  the  sect  of  the 
Sadducees;  because  the  leaven  of 
Herod  is  also  denominated  the 
leaven  of  the  Sadducees. 

HETERODOX,  something 
that  is  contraiy  to  the  faith  or  doc- 
trine established  in  the  true  church. 
See  Op.thodox. 

HEXAPLA,  a  Bible  disposed 
in  six  columns,  containing  the  text 
and  divers  versions  thereof,  com- 
piled and  published  by  Origen, 
with  a  view  of  securing  the  sacred 
text  from  future  corruptions,  and 
to  correct  those  that  had  been  al- 
ready introduced.  Eusebius  re- 
lates, that  Origen,  after  his  return 
from  Rome  under  Caracalla,  appli- 
ed himself  to  learn  Hebrew,  and 
be^p  to  coliectthesevei'al  versions 
that  "had  been  made  of  the  sacred 


writings,  and  of  these  to  compose 
his  Tetrapla  and  Hexapla ;  others, 
however,  will  not  allow  him  to 
have  begun  till  the  time  of  Alex- 
ander, after  he  had  retired  into 
Palestine,  about  the  year  231. 
To  conceive  what  this  Hexapla 
was,  it  must  be  observed,  that,  be- 
sides the  translation  of  the  sacred 
writings,  called  the  Septuagint, 
made  under  Ptolemy  Philadel- 
phus,  above  280  years  before 
Christ,  the  scripture  had  been  since 
translated  into  Greek  by  other  in- 
terpreters. The  first  of  those 
versions,  or  (reckoning  the  Sep- 
tuagint) the  second,  was  that  of 
Aquila,  a  proselyte  Jew,  the  first 
edition  of  which  he  published  in 
the  12th  year  of  the  emperor 
Adrian,  or  about  the  year  of 
Christ  128  ;  the  third  was  that  of 
Symmachus,  published,  as  is  com- 
monly supposed,  under  Maixus 
Aurelius,  but,  as  some  say,  under 
Septimus  Severus,  about  the  year 
200 ;  the  fourth  was  that  of 
Theodotion,  prior  to  that  of  Sym- 
machus, under  Commodus,  or 
about  the  year  1 75.  These  Greek 
versions,  says  Dr.  Kennicott,  were 
made  by  the  Jews  from  their  cor- 
rupted copies  of  the  Hebrew,  and 
were  designed  to  stand  in  the  place 
of  the  Seventy,  against  v/hich  they 
were  prejudiced,  because  it  seem- 
ed to  favour  the  christians.  The 
fifth  was  found  at  Jericho,  in  the 
reign  of  Caracalla,  about  the  year 
217  ;  and  the  sixth  was  discovered 
at  Nicopolis,  in  the  reign  of  Alex- 
ander Severus,  about  the  year 
228  ;  lastly,  Origen  himself  re- 
covered part  of  a  seventh,  contain- 
ing only  the  Psalms.  Now  Ori- 
gen, who  had  held  frequent  dispu- 


HEX 


343 


HIG 


tations  with  the  Jews  in  Egypt 
and  Palestine,  observing  that  they 
always  objected  to  those  passages 
of  scripture  quoted  against  them, 
and  appealed  to  the  Hebrew  text, 
the  better  to  vindicate  those  pas- 
sages, and  confound  the  Jews,  by 
shewingthatthe  Seventy  had  given 
the  sense  of  the  Hebrew  ;  or  ra- 
ther to  shew,  by  a  number  of  dif- 
ferent versions,  what  the  real  sense 
of  the  Hebrew  was,  undertook  to 
reduce  all  these  several  versions 
into  a  body,  along  with  the  He- 
brew text,  so  as  they  might  be  ea- 
silv  confronted,  and  afford  a  mu- 
tual light  to  each  other.  He  made 
the  Hebrew  text  his  standard ;  and 
allowing  that  corruptions  might 
have  happened,  and  that  the  old 
Hebrew  copies  ntvight  and  did 
read  differently,  he  contented  him- 
self with  marking  such  words  or 
sentences  as  were  not  in  his  He- 
brew text,  nor  the  later  Greek 
versions,  and  adding  such  words 
or  sentences  as  were  omitted  in  the 
Seventy,  prefixing  an  asterisk  to 
the  additions,  and  an  obelisk  to  the 
others.  In  order  to  this,  he  made 
choice  of  eight  columns  ;  in  the 
first  he  gave  the  Hebrew  text,  in 
Hebrew  characters ;  in  the  se- 
cond, the  same  text  in  Greek 
characters  ;  the  rest  were  filled 
with  the  several  versions  above- 
mentioned  ;  all  the  columns  an- 
swering verse  for  verse,  and  phrase 
for  phrase ;  and  in  the  Psalms 
there  was  a  ninth  column  for  the 
seventh  version.  This  work  Origen 
called 'E|'X'n'^«,  Hexapla^  q.  d.  sex- 
tuple^ or  work  of  six  columns,  as 
only  regarding  the  first  six  Greek 
versions.  St.  Epiphanius,  taking 
in  likewise  the  two  columns  of  the 
text,    calls  the  work  Octapla^   as 


consisting  of  eight  columns.  This 
celebrated  work,  which  Montfau- 
con  imagines  consisted  of  sixty 
large  volumes,  perished  long  ago ; 
probably  with  the  library  at  Cse- 
sarea,  where  it  was  preserved  in 
the  year  653  ;  though  several  of 
the  ancient  writers  have  preserved 
us  pieces  thereof,  particularly  St. 
Chrysostom  on  the  Psalms,  Phi- 
leponus  in  his  Hexameron,  &c. 
Some  modern  writers  have  earn- 
estly endeavoured  to  collect  frag- 
ments of  the  Hexapla,  particular- 
ly Flaminius,  Nobilius,  Drusius, 
and  F.  Montfaucon,  in  two  folio 
volumes  printed  at  Paris  in 
1713. 

HIE  RACITES,  heretics  in  the 
third  century  ;  so  called  from  their 
leader  Hierax,  a  philosopher,  of 
Egypt,  who  taught  that  Melchi- 
sedec  was  the  Holy  Ghost,  de- 
nied the  resuiTection,  and  con- 
demned marriage. 

HIERARCHY,  an  ecclesiasti- 
cal establishment.  The  word  is  al- 
so used  in  reference  to  the  subor- 
dination some  suppose  there  is 
among  the  angels  :  but  whether 
they  are  to  be  considered  as  having 
a  government  or  hierarchy  among 
themselves  so  that  one  is  superior 
in  office  and  dignity  to  others  ;  or 
whether  they  have  a  kind  of  domi- 
nion over  one  another;  or  whether 
some  are  mere  partakers  of  privi- 
leges others  are  deprived  of,  can- 
not be  determined,  since  scripture 
is  silent  as  to  this  matter. 

HIGH  CHURCHMEN,  a 
term  first  given  to  the  non-jurors, 
who  refused  to  acknowledge  Wil- 
liam III  as  their  lawful  king,  and 
who  had  very  proud  notions  of 
church  power ;  but  it  is  now  com- 
monly used  in  a  more  extensive 


HOL 


344 


HOL 


signification,  and  is  applied  to  all 
those  v/ho,  though  far  from  being 
non-jurors,  yet  form  pompous  and 
ambitious  conceptions  of  the  au- 
thority and  jurisdiction  of  the 
church. 

HISTORY  ECCLESIASTI- 
CAL. 

SeeEccLESiAsTicAL  History. 

HOFFMANISTS,  those  who 
espoused  the  sentiments  of  Daniel 
Hoffman,  professor  in  the  univer- 
sity of  Helmstadt,  who  in  the  year 
1598  taught  that  the  light  of  rea- 
son, even  as  it  appears  in  the  writ- 
ings of  Plato  and  Aristotle,  is  ad- 
verse to  religion  ;  and  that  the 
more  the  human  understanding  is 
cultivated  by  philosophical  study, 
the  more  perfectly  is  the  enemy 
supplied  with  weapons  of  defence. 

HOLINESS,  freedomfrom  sin, 
or  the  conformity  of  the  heart  to 
God.  It  does  not  consist  in  know- 
ledge, talents,  or  outward  cere- 
monies of  religion,  but  hath  its 
seat  in  the  heart,  and  is  the  effect 
of  a  principle  of  grace  implanted 
by  the  Holy  Spirit,  Eph.  ii,  8,  10. 
John  iii,  5.  Rom.  vi,  22.  It  is  the 
essence  of  happiness  and  the  basis 
of  true  dignity,  Prov.  iii,  17.  Prov. 
iv,  8.  It  will  manifest  itself  by  the 
propriety  of  our  conversation,  re- 
gularity of  our  temper,  and  uni- 
formity of  our  lives.  It  is  a  prin- 
ciple progressive  in  its  operation, 
Prov.  iv,  18.  and  absolutely  essen- 
tial to  the  enjoyment  of  God  here 
and  hereafter,  Heb.  xii,  14.  See 
Sanctitication. 

HOLINESS  OF  GOD,  is  the 
purity  and  rectitude  of  his  nature. 
It  is  an  essential  attribute  of  God, 
and  what  is  the  glory,  lUstre,  and 
harmony  of  all  his  other  perfec- 
tions., Ps.  xxvii,  4.  Exod.  xv,ll. 


j  He  could  not  be  God  without  it, 
I  Deut.  xxxii,  4.  It  is  infinite  and 
unbounded ;  it  cannot  be  increased 
or  diminished.  Immutable  and 
invariable,  Mai.  iii,  6.  God  is  ori- 
ginally  holy  ;  he  is  so  of  and  in 
himself,  ^.nd  Jihe  author  and  pro- 
moter of  all  holiness  among  his 
!  creatures.  The  holiness  of  God 
is  visible  by  his  works ;  he  made 
all  things  holy,  Gen.  i,  31.  By 
]  his  providences,  all  which  are  to 
promote  holiness  in  the  end,  Heb. 
xii,  10.  By  his  grace,  which  in- 
fluences the  subjects  of  it  to  be 
holy,  Tit.  ii,  10,  12.  By  his 
word,  which  commands  it,  Pet.  i, 
15.  By  his  ordinances,  which  he 
hath  appointed  for  that  end,  Jer. 
xliv,  4,  5.  By  the  punishment  of 
sin  in  the  death  of  Christ,  Is.  liii. 
and  by  the  eternal  punishment  of 
it  in  wicked  men,  Matt,  xxv,  last 
verse.     See  Attributes. 

HOLOCAUST,  formed  from 
oAof,  "  whole,"  and  y.'j.rjj^  "  I  con- 
sume with  fire ;"  a  kind  of  sacrifice 
wherein  the  whole  burnt-offering 
is  burnt  or  consumed  by  fire,  as  an 
acknowledgment  that  God,  the 
Creator,  Preserver,  and  Lord  of  all , 
was  Vv'orthy  of  all  honour  and  wor- 
ship, and  as  a  token  of  men's  giv- 
ing themselves  entirely  up  to  him. 
It  is  called  in  scripture  a  burnt- 
offering.  Sacrifices  of  this  sort  are 
often  mentioned  by  the  Heathens 
\  as  v/ell  as  Jews.  They  appear  to 
have  been  in  use  long  before  the 
institution  of  the  other  Jev/ish  sa- 
crifices by  the  law  of  Moses,  Job 
i,  5.  Job  xlii,  8.  Gen.  xxii,  13. 
Gen.  viii,  20.  On  this  account, 
the  Jews,  who  v.ould  not  allow 
the  Gentiles  to  offer  on  their  altar 
any  other  sacrifices  peculiarly  en- 
joined by  the  lav/  of  ]Moses,  ad- 


HOL 


345 


HOL 


mitted  them  by  the  Jewish  priests 
to  offer  holocausts,  because  these 
were  a  sort  of  sacrifices  prior  to 
the  law,  and  common  to  all  na- 
tions. During  their  subjection  to 
the  Romans,  it  was  no  uncommon 
thing  for  those  Gentiles  to  offer 
sacrifices  to  the  God  of  Israel  at 
Jerusalem.  Holocausts  were  deem- 
ed by  the  Jews  the  most  excellent 
of  all  their  sacrifices.  See  Sa- 
crifice. 

HOLY  DAY,  a  day  set  apart 
by  the  church  for  the  commemora- 
tion of  some  saint,  or  some  re- 
markable particular  in  the  life  of 
Christ.  It  has  been  a  question 
agitated  by  divines,  whether  it  be 
proper  to  appoint  or  keep  any  holy 
days  (the  Sabbath  excepted).  The 
advocates  for  holy  days  suppose 
that  they  have  a  tendency  to  fm- 
press  the  minds  of  the  people  with 
a  greater  sense  of  religion  ;  that  if 
the  acquisitions  and  victories  of 
men  be  celebrated  with  the  highest 
joy,  how  much  more  those  events 
which  relate  to  the  salvation  of 
man ;  such  as  the  birth,  death,  and 
resurrection  of  Christ,  &c.  On  the 
other  side  it  is  observed,  that  if 
holy  clays  had  been  necessary  un- 
der the  present  dispensation,  Jesus 
Christ  would  have  observed  some- 
thing respecting  them,  whereas  he 
was  silent  about  them ;  that  it  is 
bringing  us  again  into  that  bond- 
age to  ceremonial  laws  from 
which  Christ  freed  us  ;  that  it  is  a 
tacit  reflection  on  the  Head  of  the 
chui'ch  in  not  appointing  them ; 
that  such  days,  on  the  whole,  are 
more  pernicious  than  useful  to  so- 
cietv,  as  they  open  a  door  for  in- 
dolence and  profaneness ;  yea,  that 
scripture  speaks  against  such  days, 

Vol.  I.  Yv 


Gal.  iv,  9  to  11.  Caves  Prhm 
Christ. ;  Nelson's  Fasts  and  Feasts; 
RohinsorCs  History  and  Mystery 
of  Good  Friday.,  and  Lectures  on 
Non-conformity ;  A  country  Vicar''s 
Sermon  on  Christmas-day.,  1753  i 
Brown^s  Nat.  and  Rev.  Rel..,  p. 
535  ;  Neafs  Hist,  of  the  Puritans., 
vol.  ii,  p.  116,  qu. 

HOLY  GHOST,  the  third  per- 
son in  the  Trinity. 

I.  The  Holy  Ghost  is  a  real  and 
distinct  person  in  the  Godhead.  1. 
Personal  powers  of  rational  un- 
derstanding and  will  are  ascribed 
to  him,  1st  Cor.  ii,  10, 11.  1st  Cor. 
xii,  11.  Eph.  iv,-  3. — 2.  He  is 
joined  with  the  other  two  Divine 
persons,  as  the  object  of  worship 
and  fountain  of  blessings.  Matt, 
xxviii,  19.  2d  Cor.  xiii,  14.  1st 
John  V,  7. — 3.  In  the  Greek,  a 
masculine  article  or  epithet  is 
joined  to  his  name,  Pneuma^ 
which  is  naturally  of  the  neuter 
gender,  John  xiv,  26.  John  xv, 
26.  John  xvi,  13.  Eph.  i,  13. 
— 4.  He  appeared  under  the  em- 
blem of  a  dove,  and  of  cloven 
tongues  of  fire,  Matt.  iii.  Acts  ii. 
— 5.  Personal  offices  of  an  inter- 
cessor belong  to  him,  Rom.  viii, 
26. — 6.  He  is  represented  as  per- 
forming a  multitude  of  personal 
acts  ;  as  teaching,  speaking,  wit- 
nessing, &c.  Mark  xiii,  11.  Acts 
XX,  23.  Rom.  viii,  15,  16.  1st 
Cor.  vi,  19.  Acts  xv,  28.  Acts 
xvi,  6,  7",  &c.  &c.  &c. 

II.  //  is  no  less  evident  that  the 
Holy  Ghost  is  a  Divine  Person., 
equal  in  po~vcr  and  glory  xvith  the 
Father  and  Son.  1.  Names  pro- 
per only  to  the  Most  High  God 
are  ascpibed  to  him  ;  as  Jehovah, 
Acts  xxviii,   25.  with  Is.  vi,   9. 


HOM 


346 


HOM 


and  Heb.   iii,   7,    9.   with  Exod. 
xvii,  7.  Jer.  xxxi,  31,  34.  Heb.  x, 

15, 16.  God^  Acts  V,  3,  4.  Lord^  2d 
Cor.  iii,  17,  IS.  "The  Lord,  the 
Spirit." — 2.  Attributes  proper  only 
to  the  Most  High  God  are  ascrib- 
ed, to  him;  as  Omniscience,  1st 
Cor.ii,  10, 11.  Is.  xl,  13,  14,  Om- 
nipresence, Ps.  cxxxix,  7.  Eph,  ii, 
17,  18.  Ronj.  viii,  26,  27.  Omni- 
potence, Luke  i,  o5.  Eternity, 
Heb.  ix,  14. — 3.  Divine  works  are 
evidently  ascribed  to  him,  Gen.  i> 
2;  Job  xxvi,  13.  Ps.  xxxiii,  6. 
Ps.  civ,  30. — 4.  Worship,  proper 
only  to  God,  is  required  and 
ascribed  to  hirn.  Is.  vi,  3.  Acts 
xxviii,  25.  Rom.  ix,  1.  Rev.  i, 
4.  2d  Cor.  xiii,  14.  Jvlatt.  xxviii,  19. 
III.  The  agency  or  xyork  of  the 
Holy  Ghost  IS  more  part'icidarly  d'ls 


in  the  church  took  these  denomi- 
nations, to  intimate  that  they  were 
not  harangues,  or  matters  of  osten- 
tation and  flourish,  like  those  of 
profane  orators,  but  familiar  and 
useful  discourses,  as  of  a  master  to 
his  disciples  or  a  father  to  his 
children.  All  the  homilies  of  the 
Greek  and  Latin  fathers  are  com- 
posed by  bishops.  We  have  none 
of  Tertullian,  Clemens  Alexan- 
drinus,  and  many  other  learned 
persons,  because  in  the  first  ages 
none  but  bishops  were  admitted  to 
preach.  The  privilege  was  not 
ordinarily  allowed  to  priests  till 
toward  the  fifth  centurj\  St. 
Chrysostom  was  the  first  presbyter 
that  preached  statedly.  Origen 
and  St.  Augustine  also  preached, 
but  it  was  by  a  peculiar  licence 


playedin^  I.  Co)ivictzon  of  sin,  John  j  or  privilege 

xvi,  8,  9. — 2.  Conversio?!^  1st.  Cor.  \\       Photius    distinguishes    homily 


xii.  Eph.  i,  17,  18.  1st  Cor.  ii,  10, 
12.  John  iii,  5,  6. — 3.  Sanctijica- 
tion,  2d  Thess.  ii,  13.  1st  Cor. 
vi,  11.  Rom.  XV,  16. — 4.  Conso- 
lation^  John  xiv,  16,  26. — 5.  Di- 
rection^ John  xiv,  16,  17.  Rom. 
viii,  14.-^6.  Confirmation^  Rom. 
viii,  16.  1st  John  iii,  24.  Eph. 
i,  T3,  14.  See  Trinity.  Haxv- 
ker''s  Sermons  on  the  Holy  Ghost ; 
Pearson  on  the  Greedy  8   article  ; 


from  sermoji^  in  that  the  homily 
j  was  performed  in  a  more  familiar 
[manner;  the  prelate  interrogating 
I  and  talking  to  the  people,  and  the;^' 
I  in  their  turn   answering  and  inter- 
'rogating  him,  so  that  it  was  pro- 
perly a  conversation  ;  whereas  the 
sermon  was  delivered  with  more 
form,  and  in  the  pulpit,  after  the 
manner  of  the  orators.    The  prac- 
tice of  coip.piling  homilies  which 


Dr.  Oxven   on   the  Spirit;   ZTi^r-  I  were  to  be  committed  to  memory. 


rion^s  16  Sermons  on  the  Spirit. 

HOLY  GHOST  PROCES- 
SION OF.     See  Procession. 

HOMILY,  a  sermon  or  dis- 
course upon  some  point  of  religion 
delivered  in  a  plain  manner,  so  as 
to   be  easily   understood   by  the 


and  recited  by  ignorant  or  indolent 
priests,  commenced  towards  the 
close  of  the  eighth  centurj^ ;  when 
Charlemagne  ordered  Paul,  Dea- 
con, and  Alcuin,  to  form  homilies 
or  discourses  upon  the  gospels  and 
i  epistles  from  the  ancient  doctors 


common  people.  The  Greek  ho-  'of  the  church.  This  gave  rise  to 
mily,  says  M.  Fleun,',  signifies  a  i]  that  famous  collection  entitled  the 
familiar'discourse,  like  the  Latin  J!  Homiliarium  of  Charlemagne;  and 
sermo,  and   discourses    delivered  i'  which  being  followed  as  a  model 


HON 


347 


HON 


by  many  productions  of  the  same 
kind,  composed  by  private  per- 
sons, from  a  principle  of  pious 
zeal,  contributed  much  (says  Mo- 
sheim)  to  nourish  the  indolence 
and  to  perpetuate  the  ignoi-ance  of 
a  worthless  clergy.  There  are  still 
extant  several  fine  homilies  com- 
posed by  the  ancient  fathers,  parti- 
cularly Sc.  ChrysostomandSt.Gre- 
^ory.— The  Clementine  Homilies 
are  nineteen  homilies  in  Greek, 
published  by  Cotelerius,  with  two 
letters  prefixed ;  one  of  them  writ- 
ten in  the  name  of  Peter,  the  other 
in  the  name  of  Clement,  to  James, 
bishop  of  Jerusalem ;  in  which 
last  letter  they  are  entitled  Cle- 
ment's Epitome  of  the  Preaching 
and  Travels  of  Peter.  According 
to  Le  Clerc,  these  homilies  were 
composed  by  an  Ebionite,  in  the 
second  century;  but  Montfaucon 
supposes  that  they  were  forged 
long  after  the  age  of  St.  Athana- 
sius.  Dr.  Lardner  apprehends  that 
the  Clementine  homilies  were  the 
original,  or  first  edition  of  the  Re- 
cognitions ;  and  that  they  are  the 
same  with  the  work  censured  by 
Eusebius  under  the  title  of  Dia- 
logues of  Peter  and  Appion. — Ho- 
milies of  the  Church  of  England  v,rt 
those  which  were  composed  at  the 
reformation  to  be  read  in  churches, 
in  order  to  supply  the  defect  of 
sermons.  See  the  quarto  edition 
of  the  Homilies,  v/ith  notes,  by  a 
divine  of  the  church  of  England. 

HONESTY  is  that  principle 
which -makes  a  person  prefer  his 
promise  or  duty  to  his  passion  or 
interest.     See  Justice. 

HONOUR,  a  testimony  of  es- 
teem or  submission,  expressed  by 
words  and  an  exterior  behaviour,  by 


which  we  make  knovvm  the  vene- 
ration and  respect  we  entertain  for 
any  one,  on  account  of  his  dignity 
or  merit.  The  word  is  also  used  in 
general  for  the  esteem  due  to  vir- 
tue, glory,  reputation,    and   pro- 
bity ;  as  also  for  an  exactness  in 
performing  whatever  we  have  pro- 
mised ;    and  in  this  last  sense  we 
use  the  term,  a  man  of  honour.  It 
is   also   applied   to   two    different 
kinds  of  virtue  ;  bravery  in  men, 
and  chastity  in  women.     In  every 
situation  of  life,  religion  only  forms 
the  true  honour  and  happiness  of 
man.      "  It  cannot,"  as  one  ob- 
serves, "arise  from  riches,  dignity 
of  rank  or  office,  nor  from  v^'^hat 
are  often  called  splendid  actions 
of   heroes,    or  civil    accomplish- 
ments ;  these  may  be  found  among 
men  of  no  i-eal  integrity,  and  may 
create   considerable  fame  ;   but  n 
distinction  must  be  made  between 
fame  and  true  honour.     The  far- 
mer is  a  loud  and  noisy  applause ; 
the  latter  a  more  silent  and  inter- 
nal homage.     Fame  floats  o;i  the 
breath  of  the  inultitude  ;  honour 
rests    on   the    judgment    of    the 
thinking.  In  order,  then,  to  discern 
where  true  honour  lies,  we  must 
not  look  to  any  adventitious  cir- 
cumstance, not  to  any  single  spark- 
ling quality,  but  to  the  whole  of 
what  forms  a  man  ;  in  a  word,  we 
must  look  to  the  soul.     It  will  dis- 
cover itself  by  a  mind  superior  to 
fear,  to  selfish  interest,  and  cor- 
ruption ;  by  an  ardent  love  to  the 
Supreme    Being,   and  by  a  prin- 
ciple of  uniform  rectitude.    It  will 
make  us  neither  afraid  nor  ashamed 
to  discharge  our  duty,  as  it  relates 
both  to  God  and  man.      It  will  in- 
fluence   ur]    to    be   magnanimous 


HOP 


548 


HOP 


without  being  proud ;  humble 
without  being  mean  ;  just  without 
being  harsh  ;  simple  in  our  man- 
ners, but  manly  in  our  feelings. 
This  honour,  thus  formed  by  re- 
ligion, or  the  love  of  God,  is  more 
independent,  and  more  complete, 
than  what  can  be  acquired  by  any 
other  means.  It  is  productive  of 
higher  felicity,  and  will  be  com- 
mensurate with  eternity  itself; 
while  that  honour,  so  called, 
which  arises  froin  any  other  prin- 
ciple, will  resemble  the  feeble  and 
twinkling  flame  of  a  taper,  which 
is  often  clouded  by  the  smoke  it 
sends  forth,  but  is  always  wasting, 
and  soon  dies  totally  away."  Bar- 
rorv's  Works^  vol.  i,  ser.  4  ;  Blair's 
Sermons^  vol.  iii,  ser.  1  ;  TVatts^s 
Sermons^' str.  30,  vol.  ii;  Rijlancfs 
Cont,^  vol.  i,  p.  343  ;  J  or  tin'' s 
Sermons^  vol.  iii,  ser.  6. 

HOPE  is  the  desire  of  some 
good,  attended  with  the  possibility, 
at  least,  of  obtaining  it ;  and  is  en- 
livened with  joy  greater  or  less, 
according  to  the  probability  there 
is  of  possessing  the  object  of  our 
hope.  Scarce  an}'  passion  seems  to 
be  more  natural  to  man  than  hope; 
and,  considering  the  many  troubles 
he  is  encompassed  with,  none  is 
more  necessary;  for  life,  void  of 
all  hope,  would  be  a  heavy  and 
spiritless  thing,  very  little  desir- 
able, perhaps  hardly  to  be  borne  ; 
whereas  hope  infuses  strength 
into  the  mind,  and  by  so  doing 
lessens  the  burdens  of  life.  If 
our  condition  be  not  the  best  in 
the  world,  yet  we  hope  it  will  be 
better,  and  this  helps  us  to  sup- 
port it  with  patience.  The  hope 
of  the  ciiristian  is  an  expectation 


of  all  necessary  good  both  in  time 
and  eternity,  founded  on  the  pro- 
mises, relations,  and  perfections  of 
God,  and  on  the  offices,  righteous- 
ness, and  intercession  of  Christ  It 
is  a  compound  of  desire,  expecta- 
tion, patience,  and  joy,  Rom.  viii, 
24,  25.  It  may  be  considered,  1. 
As  pure^  1st  John  iii,  2,  3.  as  it  is 
resident  in  that  heart  which  is 
cleansed  from  sin. — 2.  As  good^ 
2d  Thess.  ii,  16.  (in  distinction 
from  the  hope  of  the  hypocrite) 
as  deriving  its  origin  from  God, 
and  centering  in  him.— 3.  It  is 
ca.lled  lively.,  1st  Pet.  i,  3.  as  it 
proceeds  from  spiritual  life,  and 
renders  one  active  and  lively  in 
good  works. — 4.  It  is  courageous .^ 
Rom.  V,  5.  1st  Thess.  v,  8.  be- 
cause it  excites  fortitude  in  all  the 
troubles  of  life,  and  yields  support 
in  the  hour  of  death,  Prov.  xiv, 
32. — 5.  Sure^  Heb.  vi,  19.  be- 
cause it  will  not  disappoint  us,  and 
is  fixed  on  a  sure  foundation. — 6. 
Joyful^  Rom.  v,  2.  as  it  produces 
the  greatest  felicity  in  the  antici- 
pation of  complete  deliverance 
from  all  evil.  C'canpbeWs  Plea- 
sures of  Hope;  Grovels  Moral 
Phil.,  vol.  i,  p.  381  ;  GilPs  Body 
of  Div.j  p.  82,  voh  iii ;  No.  471, 
Spect. 

PIOPKINSIANS,  so  called 
froni  the  Rev.  Samuel  Plopkins, 
D.  D.  an  American  Divine,  who 
in  his  sermons  and  tracts  has  made 
several  additions  to  the  sentiments 
first  advanced  bv  the  celebrated 
Jonathan  Edwards,  late  president 
of  New  Jersey  College. 

The  follov^ing  is  a  summary  of 
the  distinguishing  tenets  of  the 
Hopkinsians,  together  with  a  few 


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349 


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of  the  reasons  they  bring  for- 
ward -  in  support  of  their  senti- 
ments. 

I.  That  all  true  virtue,  or  real 
holiness,  consists  in  disinterested 
benevolence.  The  object  of  bene- 
volence is  universal  being,  includ- 
ing God  and  all  intelligent  crea- 
tures. It  wishes  and  seeks  the  good 
of  every  individual,  so  far  as  is 
consistent  with  the  greatest  good 
of  the  whole,  which  is  comprised  in 
the  glory  of  God  and  the  perfec- 
tion and  happiness  of  his  king- 
dom. The  law  of  God  is  the 
standard  of  all  moral  rectitude  or 
holiness.  Thisis  reduced  into  love 
to  God,  and  our  neighbour  as  our- 
selves ;  and  universal  good-will 
comprehends  all  the  love  to  God, 
our  neighbour,  and  ourselves,  re- 
quired in  the  divine  law,  and 
therefore  must  be  the  whole  of 
holy  obedience.  Let  any  serious 
person  think  what  are  the  particu- 
lar branches  of  true  piety  ;  when 
he  has  viewed  each  one  by  itself, 
he  will  find  that  disinterested 
friendly  affections,  is  its  distin- 
guishing characteristic.  For  in- 
stance, all  the  holiness  in  pious 
fear,  which  distinguishes  it  from 
the  fear  of  the  wicked,  consists  in 
love.  Again;  holy  gratitude  is  no- 
thing but  good-will  to  God  and  our 
neighbour,  in  which  we  ourselves 
are  included  ;  and  correspondent 
affection,  excited  by  a  view  of  the 
good-will  and  kindness  of  God. 
Universal  good-v/ill  also  implies 
the  whole  of  the  duty  we  owe  to 
our  neighbour,  for  justice,  truth, 
and  faithfulness,  are  comprised  in 
universal  benevolence  j  so  are 
temperance  and  chastity.  For  an 
undue  indulgence  of  our  appetites 


and  passions  is  contrary  to  bene- 
volence, as  tending  to  hurt  our- 
selves or  others  ;  and  so  opposite 
to  the  general  good,  and  the  di- 
vine command,  in  which  all  the 
crime  of  such  indulgence  consists. 
In  short,  all  virtue  is  nothing  but 
benevolence  acted  out  in  its  pro- 
per nature  and  perfection  ;  or  love 
to  God  and  our  neighbour,  made 
perfect  in  all  its  genuine  exercises 
and  expressions. 

II.  That  all  sin  consists  in  self- 
ishness. By  this  is  meant  an  in^ 
terested,  selfish  affection,  by  which 
a  person  sets  himself  up  as  su- 
preme, and  the  only  object  of  re- 
gard ;  and  nothing  is  good  or 
lovely  in  his  view,  unless  suited  to 
promote  his  own  private  inte- 
rest. This  self-love  is  in  its 
whole  nature,  and  every  degree  of 
it  enmity  against  God :  it  is  not 
subject  to  the  law  of  God,  and  is 
the  only  affection  that  can  oppose 
it.  It  is  the  foundation  of  all 
spiritual  blindness,  and  therefore 
the  source  of  all  the  open  idolatry 
in  the  heathen  world,  and  false  re- 
ligion under  the  light  of  the  gos- 
pel ;  all  this  is  agreeable  to  that 
self-love  which  opposes  God's 
true  character.  Under  the  influ- 
ence of  this  principle,  men  depart 
from  truth  ;  it  being  itself  the 
greatest  practical  lie  in  nature,  as 
it  sets  up  that  which  is  compara- 
tively nothing  above  universal  ex- 
istence. Self-love  is  the  source  of 
all  profaneness  and  impiety  in  the 
world,  and  of  all  pride  and  ambition 
among  men,  which  is  nothing  but 
selfishness,  acted  out  in  this  parti- 
cular way.  This  is  the  foundation 
of  all  covetousness  and  sensuality, 
as  it  blinds  people's  eyes,  contracts 


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350 


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the'rr  hearts,  and  sinks  them  down, 
so  that  they  look  upon  earthly 
enjoyments  as  the  greatest  go^. 
This  is  the  source  of  all  false- 
hood, injustice,  and  oppression,  as 
it  excites  mankind  by  undue  me- 
th(?-ds  to  invade  the  property  of 
others.  Self-love  produces  all  tiie 
violent  passions  ;  envy,  wrath,  cla- 
mour, and  evil  speaking:  and  eve- 
ry thing  contrary  to  the  divine 
law  is  briefly  comprehended  in 
this  fruitful  source  of  all  iniquity, 
self-love. 

III.  That  there  are  no  promises 
of  regenerating  grace  made  to  the 
doings  of  the  unregenerate.  For 
as  far  as  men  act  from  self-love, 
they  act  from  a  bad  end:  for  those 
who  have  no  true  love  to  God, 
really  do  no  duty  when  they  attend 
on  the  externals  of  religion.  And 
as  the  unregenerate  act  from  a 
selfish  principle,  they  do  nothing 
which  is  commanded :  their  im- 
penitent doings  are  wholly  opposed 
to  repentance  and  conversion ; 
therefore  not  implied  in  the  com- 
mand to  repent,  he. :  so  far  from 
this,  they  are  altogether  disobedi- 
ent to  the  command.  Hence  it 
appears  that  there  are  no  pro- 
mises of  salvation  to  the  doings 
of  the  unregenerate. 

IV.  That  the  impotency  of  sin- 
ners, with  respect  to  believing  in 
Christ,  is  not  natural,  but  moral ; 
for  it  is  a  plain  dictate  of  common 
sense,  that  natural  impossibility  ex- 
cludes all  blame.  But  an  unwil- 
ling mind  is  universally  consider- 
ed as  a  crime,  and  not  as  an  ex- 
cuse, and  is  the  very  thing  where- 
in our  Mickedness  consists.  That 
the  impotence  of  the  sinner  is  ow- 
ing to  a  disaffection  of  heart,  is 


evident  from  the  promises  of  the 
gospel.  When  any  object  of  good 
is  proposed  and  promised  to  us 
upon  asking,  it  clearly  evinces 
that  there  can  be  no  impotence  in 
us  with  respect  to  obtaining  it, 
beside  the  disapprobation  of  the 
will ;  and  that  inability  which 
consists  in  disinclination,  never 
renders  any  thing  improperly  the 
subject  of  precept  or  command. 

V.  That,  in  order  to  faith  in 
Christ,  a  sinner  must  approve  in 
his  heart  of  the  divine  conduct, 
even  though  God  should  cast  him 
off  for  ever;  which,  however,  nei- 
ther implies  love  to  misery,  nor 
hatred  of  happiness.  For  if  the 
law  is  good,  death  is  due  to  those 
who  have  broken  it.  The  Judge  of 
all  the  earth  cannot  but  do  right. 
It  would  bring  everlasting  reproach 
upon  his  government  to  spare  us, 
considered  merely  as  in  ourselves. 
When  this  is  felt  in  our  hearts, 
and  not  till  then,  we  shall'be  pre- 
pared to  look  to  the  free  grace 
of  God,  through  the  redemption 
which  is  in  Christ,  and  to  exercise 
faith  in  his  blood,  zuho  is  set  forth 
to  he  a  propitiation  to  declare  God''s 
righteousness^  that  he  might  he  just^ 
and  yet  he  the  justifier  of  him  xvho 
helieveth  in  fesiis. 

VI.  That  the  infinitely  wise  and 
holy  God  has  exerted  his  omni- 
potent power  in  such  a  manner  as 
he  purposed  should  be  followed 
with  the  existence  and  entrance 
of  moral  evil  into  the  system. 
For  it  must  be  admitted  on  all 
hands,  that  God  has  a  perfect 
knovv'iedge,  foresight,  and  view  of 
all  possible  existences  and  events. 
If  that  system  and  scene  of  opera- 
tion, in  which  moral  evil  should 


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;i 


n  o  p 


never  have  existed,  was  actually 
preferred  in  the  Divine  mind,  cer- 
tainly the  Deity  is  infinitely  disap- 
pointed in  the  issue  of  his  own 
operations.  Nothing  can  be  more 
dishonourable  to  God  than  to 
imagine  that  the  system  which  is 
actually  formed  by  the  divine  hand, 
and  which  was  made  for  his  plea- 
sure and  glory,  is  yet  not  the 
fruit  of  wise  contrivance  and 
design. 

VII.  That  the  introduction  of 
sin  is,  upon  the  whole,  for  the  ge- 
neral good.  For  the  wisdom  and 
power  of  the  Deity  are  displayed 
in  carrying  on  designs  of  the  great- 
est good;  and  the  existence  of 
moral  evil  has  undoubtedly  occasi- 
oned a  more  full,  perfect,  and  glo- 
rious discovery  of  the  infinite  per- 
fections of  the  Divine  nature,  than 
could  otherwise  have  been  made 
to  the  view  of  creatures.  If  the 
extensive  manifestations  of  the 
pure  and  holy  nature  of  God  and 
his  infinite  aversion  to  sin,  and  all 
his  inherent  perfections,  in  their 
genuine  fruits  and  effects,  is  either 
itself  the  greatest  good,  or  neces- 
sarily contains  it,  it  must  neces- 
sarily follow  that  the  introduction 
of  sin  is  for  the  greatest  good. 

VIII.  That  repentance  is  be- 
fore faith  in  Christ. — By  this  is  not 
intended  that  repentance  is  before 
a  speculative  belief  of  the  being 
and  perfections  of  God,  and  of  the 
person  and  character  of  Christ, 
but  only  that  true  repentance  is 
previous  to  a  saving  faith  in  Christ, 
in  which  the  believer  is  united  to 
Christ,  and  entitled  to  the  benefits 
of  his  mediation  and  atonement. 
That  repentance  is  before  faith  in 
this  sense,  appears   from  several 


considerations.  1.  As  repentance 
and  faith  respect  different  objects, 
so  they  are  distinct  exercises  of  the 
heart ;  and  therefore  one  not  on- 
ly may,  but  must  be  prior  to 
the  other. — 2.  There  may  be  ge- 
nuine repentance  of  sin  without 
faith  in  Christ,  but  there  cannot  be 
true  faith  in  Christ  without  re- 
pentance of  sin  ;  and  since  repent- 
ance is  necessary  in  order  to  faith 
in  Christ,  it  must  necessarih^  be 
prior  to  faith  in  Christ — '3.  John 
the  Baptist,  Christ  and  his  apos- 
tles, taught  that  repentance  is  be- 
fore faith.  John  cried.  Repent^  for 
the  kingdom  of  heaven  is  at  hand; 
intimating  that  true  repentance 
was  necessary  in  order  to  embrace 
the  gospel  of  the  kingdom.  Christ 
commanded,  Repent  ye^  and  be- 
lieve the  gospel.  And  Paul  preach- 
ed repentance  toxvard  Gody  arid 
faith  toxvard  our  Lord  jesiis  Christ. 
IX.  That  though  men  became 
sinners  by  Adam,  according  to  a 
divine  constitution,  yet  they  have 
and  are  accountable  for  no  sins  but 
personal;  for,  1.  Adam's  act,  in 
eating  the  forbidden  fruit,  was  not 
the  act  of  his  posterity  ;  therefore 
they  did  not  sin  at  the  same  time 
he  did. — 2.  The  sinfulness  of  that 
act  could  not  be  transferred  to 
them  afterwards,  because  the  sin- 
fulness of  an  act  can  no  more  be 
transferred  from  one  person  to 
another  than  an  act  itself. — 3. 
Therefore  Adam's  act,  in  eating 
the  forbidden  fruit,  was  not  the 
cause.,  but  only  the  occasion  of  his 
posterity's  being  sinners.  God 
was  pleased  to  make  a  constitution, 
that,  if  Adam  remained  holy 
through  his  state  of  trial,  his  pos- 
terity should  in   Gonsequence  be 


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S5^ 


HOS 


holy  also ;  but  if  he  sinned,  his 
posterity  should  in  consequence  be 
sinners  likewise.  Adam  sinned, 
and  now  God  brings  his  posterity' 
into  the  world  sinners.  5?/ Adam's 
sin  we  are  become  sinners,  not  for 
it ;  his  sin  being  only  the  occasion^ 
not  the  causeo^our  committingsins. 

X.  That  though  believers  are 
justified  through  Christ's  righte- 
ousness, yet  his  righteousness  is 
not  transferred  to  them.  For,  1. 
Personal  righteousness  can  no 
more  be  transferred  from  one  per- 
son to  another,  than  personal  sin. 
— 2.  If  Christ's  personal  righte- 
ousness were  .  transferred  to  be- 
lievers, they  would  be  as  perfectly 
holy  as  Christ ;  and  so  stand  in  no 
need  of  forgiveness.- — 3.  But  be- 
lievers are  not  conscious  of  having 
Christ's  personal  righteousness, 
but  feel  and  bewail  much  indwel- 
ling sin  and  corruption. — 4.  The 
scripture  represents  believers  as 
receiving  only  the  benejits  of 
Christ's  righteousness  in  justifica- 
tion, or  their  being  pardoned  and 
accepted  for  Christ's  righteous- 
ness' sake :  and  this  is  the  proper 
scripture  notion  of  imputation.  Jo- 
nathan's righteousness  was  imput- 
ed to  Mephibosheth  when  David 
shewed  kindness  to  him  for  his 
father  Jonathan's  sake. 

The  Hopkinsians  warmly  con- 
tend for  the  doctrine  of  the  di- 
vine decrees,  that  of  particular 
election,  total  depravity,  the  spe- 
cial influences  of  the  Spirit  of  God 
in  regeneration,  justification  by 
faith  alone,  the  final  persever- 
ance of  the  saints,  "iipd  the  con- 
sistency between  entire  freedom 
and  absolute  dependence ;  aind 
therefore  claim  it  as  their  just 
due,  since  the  v/orld   will   make 


distinctions,  to  be  called  Hopkin-* 
sian  Calvinists.  Adams's  Viexv  of 
Religions;  Hopkins  on  Holiness; 
Edwards  on  the  Will,  p.  234,  289  ; 
Edwards  on  Virtue;  West's  Es- 
say on  Moral  Agency^  p.  170, 
181  ;  Spring's  Nature  of  Duty  ^  p. 
23 ;  Moral  Disquisitions^  p.  40. 

HORROR,  a  passion  excited 
by  an  object  which  causes  a  high 
degree  of  fear  and  detestation.  It 
is  a  compoundof  wonder  and  fear* 
Sometimes  it  has  a  mixture  of 
pleasure  from  which,  if  predomi- 
nant, it  is  denominated  a /^/ecr.yin^ 
horror.  Such  a  horror  seizes  us 
at  the  view  of  vast  and  hanging 
precipices,  a  tempestuous  ocean, 
or  wild  and  solitary  places.  This 
passion  is  the  original  of  supersti- 
tion, as  a  wise  and  v/ell  tempered 
awe  is  of  religion.  Horror  and 
terror  seem  almost  to  be  syno- 
nymous ;  but  the  former,  I  think, 
refers  more  to  what  disgusts  ;  the 
latter  to  that  which  alarms  us. 

HOSANNA,  in  the  Hebrew 
ceremonies,  a  prayer  which  they 
rehearsed  on  the  several  days  of 
the  feast  of  tabernacles.  It  signi- 
fies, "  save  us  now  ;"  or  "  save  us, 
we  pray."  There  are  divers  of 
these  hosannas;  the  Jews  call  them 
hoschannoth,  i.  e.  hosannahs. 
Some  are  rehearsed  on  the  first 
day,  others  on  the  second,  &c., 
which  they  call  hosanna  of  the 
first  day,  hosanna  of  the  second 
day,  &c.  Hosanna  Rabha^  or  Grand 
Hosanna^  is  a  name  they  give  to 
their  feast  of '  tabernacles,  which 
lasts  eight  days  ;  because,  during 
the  course  thereof,  they  are  fre- 
quently calling  for  the  assistance 
of  God,  the  forgiveness  of  their 
sins,  and  his  blessing  on  the  new- 
year;  and  to   that  purpose   they 


HO  S 


HOS 


make  great  use  of  the  prayers  [ 
above-mentioned.  The  Jews  also 
apply  the  terms  hosanna  rabba  in 
a  more  peculiar  manner  to  the  se- 
venth day  of  the  feast  of  taberna- 
cles, because  they  apply  them- 
selves more  immediately  on  that 
day  to  invoke  the  Divine  blessing, 
&c. 

HOSPITALITY,  kindness 
exercised  in  the  entertainment  of 
strangers.  This  virtue,  we  find, 
is  explicitly  commanded  by,  and 
makes  a  part  of  the  morality  of  the 
New  Testament.  Indeed,  that 
religion  which  breathes  nothing 
but  charity,  and  whose  tendency  is 
to  expand  the  heart,  and  call  forth 
the  benevolent  exertions  of  man- 
kind one  to  another,  must  evident- 
ly embrace  this  practice.  If  it  be 
asked,  of  whom  is  this  required  ?  it 
•is  answered,  that  the  principle  is 
required  of  all,  though  the  duty  it- 
self can  only  be  practised  by  those 
whose  circumstances  will  admit  of 
it.  Dr.  Stennet,  in 'his  discourse 
on  this  subject  (^Domestic  Duties^ 
sei\  10),  justly  observes,  "  that 
hospitality  is  a  species  of  charity 
to  which  every  one  is  not  compe- 
tent. But  the  temper  from  which 
it  proceeds,  I  mean  a  humane,  be- 
nevolent, generous  temper,  that 
ought  to  prevail  in  every  breast. 
Some  are  miserably  poor,  and  it  is 
not  to  be  expected  that  their  doors 
should  be  thrown  open  to  entertain 
strangers  ;  yet  the  cottage  of  a  pea- 
sant may  exhibit  •noble  specimens 
of  hospitality.  Here  distress  has 
often  met  with  pity,  and  the  per- 
secuted an  asylum .  Nor  is  there 
a  man  who  has  a  house  to  sleep  in, 
but  may  be  benevolent  to  strangers. 
But  there  are  persons  of  certain 
Vol.  I.  Z  z 


characters  and  stations,  who  are 
more  especially  obliged  to  it ;  as 
particularly  magistrates  and  others 
in  civil  offices,  who  would  forfeit 
the  esteem  of  the  public,  and  great- 
ly injure  their  usefulness,  were 
they  not  to  observe  the  rites  of  hos- 
pitalit}^  Ministers,  also,  and  such 
christians  as  are  qualified  by  their 
particular  offices  in  the  church, 
and  their  affluent  circumstances, 
may  be  eminently  useful  in  this 
way.  The .  two  grand  virtues 
which  ought  to  be  studied  by  every 
one,  in  order  that  he  may  have  it 
in  his  power  to  be  hospitable,  are, 
industry  and  -economy.  But  it 
may  be  asked  again,  to  xvhom  is 
this  duty  to  be  practised  ?  The  an- 
swer is,  to  strangers  :  hut  here  it  is 
necessary  to  observe,  that  the  term 
strangers  hath  two  acceptations. 
It  is  to  be  understood  of  travellers, 
or  persons  who  come  from  a  dis- 
tance, and  with  whom  we  have 
little  or  no  acquaintance ;  and 
more  generally  of  all  who  are  not 
of  our  house — strangers,  as  op- 
posed to  domestics.  Hospitality 
is  especially  to  be  practised  to  the 
poor  ;  they  who  have  no  holises  of 
their  own,  or  possess  few  of  the 
conveniences  of  life,  should  occa- 
sionally be  invited  to  our  houses, 
and  refreshed  at  our  tabJes,  Luke 
xiv,  13, 14.  Hospitality  aiso  may 
be  practised  to  those  who  are  of 
the  same  character  and  of  the  same 
community  with  ourselves.  As  to 
the  various  offices  of  hospitality, 
and  the  manner  in  which  they 
should  be  rendered,  it  must  be  ob- 
served, that  the  entertainments 
should  he  plentiful^  frugal^  andcor- 
dial^  Gen.  xviii,  6,  8.  John  xii,  3. 
Luke  XV,  17.  The  oblit^atiom  to 


HOS 


354 


HUG 


this  duty  arise  from  the  Jltness  and 
reasonableness  of  it  j  it  brings  its 
own  reward,  Acts  xx,  35.  It  is  ex- 
pressly commanded  by  God,  Lev. 
XXV,  S§,  38.  Luke  xvi,  19.  Luke 
xiv,  13,  14.  Rom.  xii.  Heb.  xiii,  1, 
2.  1st  Pet.  iv,  9.  We  have  many 
striking  examples  of  hospitality  on 
divine  record  :  Abraham,  Gen. 
xviii,  1,  8.  Lot,  Gen.  xix,  1,  3.  Job 
xxxi,  17, 22.  Shunamite,  2d  Kings 
iv,  8, 10.  The  hospitable  man  men- 
tioned in  Judges  xix,  16,  21.  Da- 
vid, 2d  Sam.  vi,  19.  Obadiah,  1st 
Kings  xviii,  4.  Nehemiah,  Neh. 
V,  17,  18.  Martha,  Luke  x,  38. 
Mary,  Matt,  xxvi,  6,  13.  The  pri- 
mitive christians.  Acts  ii,  45,  46. 
Priscilla  and  Aquila,  Acts  xviii, 
26.  Lydia,  Acts  xvi,  15,  &c.  &c.' 
Lastly,  .what  should  have  a  power- 
ful effect  on  our  minds,  is  the  con- 
sideration of  Divine  hospitality. 
God  is  good  to  all,  and  his  tender 
mercies  are  over  all  his  works. 
His  sunshines  and  his  rain  falls  on 
-the  evil  as  well  as  the  good.  His 
very  enemies  share  of  his  bounty. 
He  gives  liberally  to  all  men,  and 
upbraids  not ;  but  especially  we 
should  remember  the  exceeding 
riches  of  his  gTace,in  his  kindness 
towards  us  through  Christ  Jesus. 
Let  us  lay  all  thtjse  considerations 
together,  and  then  as'k  ourselves 
whether  we  can  find  it  in  our  hearts 
to  be  selfish,  parsimonious, -and  in- 
hospitable ?" 

HOST,  in  the  church  of  Rome, 
a  name  given  to  the  elements  used 
in  the  eucharist,  or  rather  to  the 
consecrated  wafer,  which  they  pre- 
-tend  to  offer  up  every  day,  as  a  new 
host  or  sacrifice  for  the  sins  of 
mankind.  They  pay  adoration  to 
the  host  upon  a  false  presumption 


that  the  elements  are  no  longer 
bread  and  wine,  but  transubstan- 
tiated into  the  real  body  and  blood 
of  Christ.  SeeTRANSUBSTANTiA- 
TioN. — Pope  Gregory  IX  first  de- 
creed a  bell  to  be  rung,  as  the  sig- 
nal for  the  people  to  betake  them- 
selves to  the  adoration  of  the  host. 
The  vessel  wherein  the  hosts  are 
kept  is  called  the  cibory^  being  a 
large  kind  of  covered  chalice. 

HUGUENOTS,  an  appellation 
given  by  way  of  contempt  to  the  re- 
formed or  protestant  Calvinists  of 
France.  The  name  had  its  rise  in 
1560,  but  authors  are  not  agreed 
as  to  the  origin  and  occasion  there- 
of. Some  derive  it  from  the  fol- 
lowing circumstance  : — One  of  the 
gates  of  the  city  of  Tours  is  called 
the  gate  Fourgon,  by  corruption 
from  Jell,  Heugon^  i.  e.  the  late  Hu- 
gon.  This  Hugon  was  once  count 
of  Tours, according  to  Eginhard  us, 
in  his  life  of  Charles  the  Great,  and 
to  some  other  historians.  He  was, 
it  seems,  a  very  wicked  man,  who 
bj^  his  fierce  and  cruel  temper  made 
himself  dreadful ;  so  that  after  his 
death  he  was  supposed  to  walk 
about  in  the  night  time,  beating  all 
those  he  met  with  :  this  tradition 
the  judicious  Thuanus  has  not 
scrupled  to  mention  in  his  history. 
Davila  and  other  historians  pre- 
tend that  the  nickname  of  Hugue- 
nots was  first  given  to  the  French 
Protestants,  because  they  used  to 
meet  in  the  night  time  in  subter- 
raneous vaults  near  this  gate  of 
Hugon  ;  and  what  seems  to  coun- 
tenance this  opinion  is,  that  they 
were  first  called  by  the  name  of 
Huguenots  at  this  city  of  Tours. 
Others  assign  a  more  illus- 
trious  origin  to  this  name,   and 


HUG 


355 


H  U  M 


say  that  the  leaguers  gave  it  to  the 
reformed,  because  they  were  for 
keeping  the  crown  upon  the  head 
of  the  present  hne  descended  from 
Hugh  Caput ;  whereas  they  were 
for  giving  it  to  the  house  of  Guise, 
as  descended  from  Chai-les  the 
Great.  Others  again  derive  it  froni, 
a  French  and  faulty  pronunciation 
of  the  German  word  edignossen^ 
signifying  confederates  ;  and  ori- 
ginally applied  to  that  valiant  part 
of  the  city  of  Geneva,  which  enter- 
ed into  an  alliance  with  the  Swiss 
cantons,  in  order  to  maintain  their 
liberties  against  the  tyranical  at- 
tempts of  Charles  III,  duke  of  Sa- 
voy. These  confederates  were  cal- 
led Eignots ;  whence  Huguenots. 
The  persecutions  which  they  have 
undergone  has  scarce  its  parallel  in 
the  history  of  religion.  D  uring  the 
reign  of  Charles  IX,  and  on  the 
24th  of  August,  1 572,  happened  the 
massacre  of  Bartholomew,  when 
seventy  thousand  of  them  through- 
out France  were  butchered  with 
circumstances  of  aggravated  cruel- 
ty. See  Persecution.  In  1598, 
Henry  IV  passed  the  famous  edict 
of  Nantz,  which  secured  to  the 
Protestants  the  free  exercise  of 
their  religion.  This  edict  was 
revoked  by  Lewis  XIV :  their 
churches  were  then  erased  to  the 
ground,  their  persons  insulted  by 
the  soldiery,  and,  after  the  loss  of 
innumerable  lives,  fifty  thousand 
valuable  members  of  society  were 
driven  into  exile.  In  Holland  they 
built  several  places  ox  worship,  and 
had  amongst  them  some  distin- 
guished preachers.  Among  others 
wereSuperville,  Dumont,  Dubosc, 
and  the  eloquent  Saurin ;  the  latter 
©f  whom,  in  one  of  his  sermons  (3er. 


9,  vol.  v),  makes  the  following  fine 
apostrophe  to  that  tyrant  Lewis 
XIV,  by  whom  they  were  driven 
into  exile.  ''  And  thou,  dreadful 
prince,  whom  I  once  honoured  as 
my  king,  and  whom  I  yet  respect 
as  a  scourge  in  the  hand  of  Al- 
mighty God,  thou  also  shalt  have  a 
part  in  my  good  wishes !  These  pro- 
vinces, which  thouthreatenest,  but 
which  the  arm  of  the  Lord  pro- 
tects ;  this  country,  which  thou  fil- 
lestwithrefugees,  but  fugitives  ani- 
mated with  love ;  these  walls,  which 
contain  a  thousand  martyrs  of  thy 
making,  but  whom  religion  renders 
victorious,  all  theseyetresound be- 
nedictions in  thy  favour.  God  grant 
the  fatal  bandage  that  hides  the 
truth  from  thine  eyes  may  fall  off! 
May  God  forget  the  rivers  of  blood 
with  which  thou  hast  deluged  the 
earth,  and  which  thy  reign  hath 
caused  to  be  shed !  May  God  blot 
out  of  his  book  th .  injuries  which 
thou  hast  done  us  ;  and  while  he 
rewards  the  sufferers,  may  he  par- 
don those  who  exposed  us  to  suffer ! 
O,  may  God,  who  hath  made  thee 
to  us,  and  to  the  whole  church,  a 
minister  of  his  judgments,  make 
thee  a  dispenser  of  his  favours — 
an  administrator  of  his  mcixy  !' 

HUMANITY,  tlic  exercise  of 
the  social  and  benevolent  virtues  j 
a  fellow-feeling  for  the  distresses  of 
another.  It  is  properly  called  hu- 
manity, because  there  is  little  or 
nothing  of  it  in  brutes.  The  social 
affections  are  conceived  by  all  to  be 
more  re  fined  than  the  sellisli.  Sym- 
pathy and  humanity  are  universally 
esteemcdthefinesttemperofmind; 
and  for  that  reason  the  prevalence 
of  the  social  affections  in  the  pro- 
grpss  of  society  is  held  to  be  a  I'c- 


HUM 


35G 


HUM 


finement  in  our  nature.  Karnes's 
El  of  Crit.,  p.  104,  vol.  1  ;  Ro- 
h'lnsorHs  Sermon  on  Christianity^  a 
System  of  Humanity ;  Pmtt^s  Po- 
em on  Humanity. 

HUMANITY  OF  CHRIST, 
is  his  possessing  atrue  human  body, 
and  a  true  human  soul,  and  which 
he  assumed  for  the  purpose  of  ren- 
dering his  mediation  effectual  to 
our  salvation.  See  Jesus  Christ. 
HUMILIATION  OF  CHiUST, 
is  that  state  of  meanness  and  dis- 
tress to  which  he  voluntarily  de- 
scended, for  the  purpose  of  execu- 
ting his  mediatorial  work.     This 
appears,  1.  In  his  birth.     He  was 
born  of  a  xvoman — a  sinflil  woman ; 
though  he  was  without  sin,  Gal.  iv, 
4.  A  poor  woman,  Luke  ii,  7,  24. 
In  a  poor  country  village,  John  i, 
46.     In  a  stable,  an  abject  place. 
Of  a  nature  subject  to  infirmities, 
Heb.  ii,  9.  hunger,  thirst,  weari- 
ness, pain,  &c. — 2.  In  his  circum- 
stances^ laid  in  a  manger  when  he 
was  bom  ;  lived  in  obscurity  for  a 
long  time ;  probably  worked  at  the 
trade  of  a  carpenter  ;  had  not  a 
place  where  to  lay  his  head  ;  and 
was  oppressed  with  poverty  while 
he  went  about  preaching  the  gospel. 
— 3.  It  appeared  in  his  reputation: 
he  was  loaded  with  the  most  abu- 
sive railingand  calumny.  Is.  liii.  the 
most  false  accusations,  Matt.xxvi, 
59,  67.  and  the  most  ignominious 
ridicule,  PsaU  xxii,  6.  Matt,  xxii, 
68.  John  vii,  35. — 4.   In  his  soul 
he  was  often  tempted.  Matt,  iv,  1. 
&c.  Heb.  ii,   17,  18.  Heb.  iv,  15. 
grieved  with  the  reproaches  caston 
himself,  and  with  the  sins  and  mi- 
series of  others,  Heb.  xii,  3.  Matt. 
xi,  19.  John  xi,  oS.  was  burden- 
ed with  the  hidings  of  his  Father's 


face,  and  the  fears  and  impressions 
of  his  wrath,  Psal.  xxii,  1.  Luke 
xxii,  43.  Heb.  v,  7. — 5.  In  his 
deathy  scourged,  crowned  with 
thorns,  received  gall  and  vinegar 
to  drink,  and  was  crucified  between 
two  thieves,  Luke  xxiii.  John  xix. 
Mark  xv,  24,  25. — 6.  In  his  buri- 
al: not  only  was  he  born  in  another 
man's  house,  but  he  was  buried  in 
another  man's  tomb ;  for  he  had  no 
tomb  of  his  own,  or  family  vault  to 
be  interred  in,  Is.  liii,  10.  &c.  Matt. 
xiii,  46.  The  humiliation  of  Christ 
was  necessarv,  1.  To  execute  the 
purpose  of  God  and  covenant  en- 
gagements of  Christ,  Acts  ii,  23, 

24.  Psal.  xl,  6,  7,  8 2.  To  fulfil 

the  manifold  types  and  predictions 
of  the  Old  Testament. — 3.  To  sa- 
tisfy the  broken  law  of  God,  and 
purchase  eternal  i-edemption  for  us, 
Isa.  liii,  Heb.  ix,  12,  15. — 4.  To 
leave  us  an  unspotted  pattern  of 
holiness  and  patience  under  suffer- 
ing. GiWs  Body  of  Div.y  p.  66, 
vol.ii;  Brown^s  Nat.  and  Rev. 
Religion^  p.  2>57  ;  Ridgley'^s  Body 
of  Div.y  qu.  48. 

HUMILITY,  a  disposition  of 
mind  wherein  a  person  has  a  low 
opinion  of  himself  and  his  advanta- 
ges. It  is  a  branch  of  internal  wor- 
ship,orofexperimental  religion  and 
godliness.  It  is  the  effect  of  divine 
grace  operating  on  the  soul,  andal- 
v/ays  characterizes  the  true  chris- 
tian. The  heathen  philosophers 
were  so  little  acquainted  with  this 
virtue,  that  they  had  no  name  for 
it :  what  they  meant  by  the  word 
we  use,  was  meanness  and  base- 
ness of  mind.  To  consider  this 
grace  a  litde  more  particularly, 
it  may  be  observ-ecl,  1.  That  hu- 
mility docs  liot  oblige  a  man  to 


HUM 


357 


HUS 


wrong  the  truth,  or  himself,  by 
entertaining  a  meaner  or  worse 
opinion  of  himself   than  he  de- 
serves.— 2.  Nor  does  it  oblige  a 
man,  right  or  wrong,  to  give  eve- 
ry   body    else    the   preference  to 
himself.     A  wise  man  cannot  be- 
lieve himself  inferior  to  the  igno- 
rant multitude  ;  nor  the  virtuous 
man  that  he   is  not  so  good  as 
those  whose  lives  are  vitious. — 3. 
Nor  does  it  oblige  a  man  to  treat 
himself    with    contempt    in    his 
words   or  actions  :  it  looks  more 
like  affection  than  humility,  when 
a  man  says  such  things  in  his  own 
dispraise  as  others  know,    or  he 
himself  believes  to  be  false :  and  it 
is  plain,  also,  that  this  is  often  done 
merely  as  a  ^ai^  to  catch  the  praises 
of  others.   Humility  consists,  1.  In 
not  attributing  to  ourselves  any  ex- 
cellence or  good  which  we  have 
not. — 2.    In  not  over-rating  any 
thing  we  do — 3.  In  not  taking  an 
immoderate  delight  in  ourselves.— 
4.  In  not  assuming  more  of  the 
praise  of  a  quality  or  action  than 
belongs  to  us. — 5.  In  an  inward 
sense  of  our  many  imperfections 
and  sins. — 6.  In  ascribing  all  we 
have  and  are  to  the  grace  of  God. 
True  humility  will  express  itself^  1. 
By  the  modesty  of  our  appearance. 
The  humble  man  will  consider  his 
age,  abilities,  character,  function, 
&c.,  and  act  accordingly. — 2.  By 
the  modesty  of  our  pursuits.   We 
shall  not  aim  at  any  thing  above 
our  strength,  but  prefer  a  good  to  a 
great,  name. — 3.    It  v/ill  express 
itself  by  the  modesty  of  our  conver- 
sation and  behaviour:  we  shall  not 
be  loquacious,  obstinate,  forward, 
envious,  discontented,  or  ambiti- 
ous. The  advantages  of  humility  are 


numerous :  1.  It  is  well  pleasing  to 
God,   1st  Pet.  iii,  4. — 2.  It  has 
great  influence  on  us  in  the  per- 
formance of  all  other  duties,  pray- 
ing, hearing,  converse,  &c. — 3.  It 
indicates  that  more  grace  shall  be 
given,  James  iv,  6.  Ps.  xxv,  9. — 4. 
It  preserves  the  soul  in  great  tran- 
quillity and  contentment,  Ps.  Ixix, 
32,  33. — 5.  It  makes  us  patient 
and  resigned  under  afflictions,  Job 
i,  22. — 6.  It  enables  us  to  exercise 
moderation  in  every  thing.   To  ob- 
tain this  excellent  spirit  we  should 
remember^     1.    The    example   of 
Christ,  Phil,  ii,  6,  r,  8 — 2.  That 
heaven  is  a  place  of  humility.  Rev. 
V,  8.- — 3.  That  our  sins  are  nume- 
rous, and  deserve  the  greatest  pu- 
nishment, Lam.  iii,  39. — %.  That 
humility  is  the  way  to  honour,  Prov, 
xvi,  18. — 5.  That  the  greatest  pro- 
i^jises  of  good  are  made  to  the  hum- 
ble. Is,  Ivii,  15.  Is.  Ixvi,  2. 1st  Pet. 
V,  5.  Ps.  cxlvii,  6.  Matt,  v,  5.  Grove's 
Mor.  Phil.^vol.  ii,p.  286;  Evans's 
Christiayi  Temper,  vol.  i,  ser.   1  ; 
Watts  on  Humility ;  Hale''s  Cont., 
p.  1 10 ;  GilPs  Body  of  Div.^  p.  ,151, 
vol.    iii;    Walker'' s   Ser.^   vol.    iv, 
ser.  3. 

HUSBAND,  duties  of.  See 
Marriage  State. 

HUSSITES,  a  party  of  reform- 
ers, the  followers  of  John  Huss. — 
John  Huss,  from  whom  the  Hus- 
sites take  their  name,  was  born  in 
a  little  village  in  Bohemia,  called 
Huss,  and  lived  at  Prague  in  the 
highest  reputation,  both  on  account 
of  the  sanctity  of  his  manners  and 
the  purity  of  his  doctrine.  He  was 
distinguished  by  his  uncommon 
erudition  and  eloquence ;  and  per- 
formed at  the  same  time  the  func- 
tion:! of  professor  of  divinity  in  the 


158 


HUS 


university,  and  of  ordinary  pastor 
in  the  church  of  that  city.  He 
adoptedthe  sentiments  of  Wickliife 
andthe  Waldenses  ;  and,  in  the  year 
1407,  began  openly  to  oppose  and 
preach  against  divers  eri'ors  in  doc- 
trine, as  well  as  corruptions  in  point 
of  discipline,  then  reigning  in  the 
qhurcli.  Huss  likewise  endeavour- 
ed to  the  utmost  of  his  power  to 
withdraw  the  University  of  Prague 
from  the  jurisdiction  of  Gregory 
XII,  \\'hom  the  king  of  Bohemia 
had  hitherto  acknowledged  as  the 
true  and  lawful  head  of  the  church. 
This  occasioned  a  violent  quarrel 
between  the  incensed  archbishop 
of  Prague  andthe  zealous  reform- 
er, Avhich  the  latter  inflamed  and 
augmented  from  day  to  day,  by 
his  pathetic  exclamations  against 
the  court  of  Rome,  and  the  cor- 
ruptions that  prevailed  among  tl^ 
sacerdotal  order. 

There  were  other  circumstances 
that  contributed  to  inflame  the  re- 
sentment of  the  clergy  against  him. 
He  adopted  the  philosophical  opi- 
nions of  the  Realists,  and  vehe- 
mently opposed  and  even  persecu- 
ted the  Nominalists,  whose  num- 
ber and  influence  were  considerable 
in  the  University  of  Prague.  He 
also  multiplied  the  number  of  his 
enemies  in  the  year  1408,  by  pro- 
curing, through  his  great  credit,  a 
sentence  in  favour  of  the  Bohemi- 
ans,who  disputed  with  theGermans 
concerning  the  number  of  suffrages 
which  their  respective  nations  were 
entitled  to  in  all  matters  that  were 
carried  by  election  in  this, universi- 
ty. In  consequence  of  a  decree  ob- 
tained in  favour  of  the  former, 
which  restored  them  to  their  con- 
stitutional right  of  three  suffrages 


usurped  by  the  latter,  the  Germans 
withdrew  froni  Prague,  and  in  the 
year  1409  founded  a  new  academy 
at  Leipsic.  This  event  no  sooner 
happened,  than  Huss  began  to  in- 
veigh, with  greater  freedom  than 
he  had  done  before,  against  the  vi- 
ces and  corruptions  of  the  clergy  j 
and  to  recommend  in  a  public  man- 
ner the  writings  and  opinions  of 
Wicklifie,  as  far  as  they  related  to 
the  papal  hierarchy,  the  despotism 
of  the  court  of  Rome,  and  the  cor- 
ruption of  the  clergy.  Hence  an  ac- 
cusation was  brought  against  him 
in  the  year  1410,  before  the  tribu- 
nal of  John  XXIII,  by  whom  he 
was  solemnly  expellecl  from  the 
communion  of  the  church.  Not- 
withstanding this  sentence  of  ex- 
communication, he  proceeded  to 
expose  the  Romish  church  with  a 
fortitude  and  zeal  that  were  al- 
most universally  applauded. 

This  eminent  man,  whose  piety 
v/as  equally  sincere  and  fervent, 
though  his  zeal  was  perhaps  too 
violent,  and  his  prudence  not  aU 
wa3^s  circumspect,  was  summoned 
to  appear  before  the  council  of  Con- 
stance. Secured,  as  he  thought, 
from  the  rage  of  his  enemies,  by 
the  safe  conduct  granted  him  by 
the  emperor  Sigismund  for  his 
journey  to  Constance,  hisresidence 
in  that  place,  and  his  return  to  his 
own  country,  John  Ku7s  obeyed 
the  order  of  the  council,  and  ap- 
peared before  it  to  demonstrate  his 
innocence,  and  to  prove  that  the 
charge  of  his  having  deserted  the 
church  of  Rome  was  entirely 
groundless.  However,  his  enemies 
so  far  prevailed,  that,  by  the  most 
scandalous  breach  of  pubhc  faith, 
he  was  cast  into  prison,  declared  a 


HUS 


359 


HUS 


heretic,  because  he  refused  to 
plead  guilty  against  the  dictates  of 
his  conscience,  in  obedience  to  the 
council,  and  burnt  alive  in  1415  ;  a 
punishmentwhich  he  endured  with 
unparalleled  magnanimity  and  re- 
solution. When  he  came  to  the 
place  of  execution  he  fell  on  his 
knees,  sang  portions  of  psalms, 
looked  steadfastly  towards  heaven, 
and  repeated  these  words  :  "  Into 
thy  hands,  O  Lord,  do  I  commit 
my  spirit ;  thou  hast  redeemed  me, 

0  most  good  and  faithful  God. 
Lord  Jesus  Christ,  assist  and  help 
me,  that  with  a  firm  and  patient 
mind,  by  thy  most  powerful  grace. 

1  may  undergo  this  most  cruel  and 
ignominious  death,  to  which  I  am 
condemned  for  preaching  the  truth 
of  thy  most  holy  gospel."  When 
the  chain  was  put  about  him  at  the 
stake,  he  said,  with  a  smiling  coun- 
tenance, "  My  Lord  Jesus  Christ 
was  bound  with  a  harder  chain  than 
this  for  my  sake,  and  wiiy  should 
Ibe  ashamed  of  this  old  rusty  one  ?" 
When  the  faggots  were  piled  up  to 
his  very  neck,  the  duke  of  Bavaria 
was  officious  enough  to  desire  him 
to  abjure.  "  No,"  says  Huss,  "  I 
never  preached  any  doctrine  of  an 
evil  tendency  ;  and  what  1  taught 
with  my  lips,  I  now  seal  with  my 
blood."  He  said  to  the  execution- 
er, "  Are  you  going  to  burn  a. 
goose  ?  In  one  century  wou  will 
have  a  sxvan  you  can  neither  roast 
nor  boil."  If  he  were  prophetic, 
he  must  have  meant  Luther,  who 
had  a  swan  for  his  arms.  The  fire 
was  then  applied  to  the  faggots  ; 
when  the  martyr  sang  a  hymn  with 
so  loud  and  cheerful  a  voice,  that 

•he  was  heard  through  all  the  crack- 
lings of  the  combustibles  and  the 


noise  of  the  multitude.  At  last 
his  voice  was  cut  short,  after  he  had 
uttered  "Jesus  Christ,  thou  Son  of 
the  living  God,  have  mercy  upon 
me,"  and  he  v/as  consumed  in  a 
most  miserable  manner.  The  duke 
of  Bavaria  ordered  the  executioner 
to  throw  all  the  martyr's  clothes 
into  the  flames  :  after  which  his 
ashes  were  carefully  collected,  and 
cast  into  the  Rhine. 

But  the  cause  in  which  this  emi- 
nent man  was  engaged  did  not  dib 
with  him.  His  disciples  adhered 
to  their  master's  doctrines  after 
his  death,  which  broke  out  into  an 
open  war.  John  Ziska,  a  Bohe- 
mian knight,  in  1420,' put  himself 
at  the  head  of  the  Hussites,  who 
were  now  become  a  very  consider- 
able party,  and  threw  off  the  despot- 
ic yoke  of  Sigismund,who  had  treat- 
ed their  brethren  in  the  most  barba- 
rous manner.  Ziska  was  succeeded 
byProcopiusintheyearl424.  Acts 
of  barbai-ity  were  committed  on 
both  sides ;  for  notwithstanding  the 
irreconcileable  opposition  between 
the  religious  semiments  of  the  con- 
tending parties,  they  both  agreed  in 
this  one  horrible  principle,  that  it 
was  innocent  and  lawful  to  perse- 
cute and  extirpate  with  fire  and 
sword  the  enemies  of  the  true  reli- 
gion; and  such  they  Teciprocally 
appeared  to  each  other.  These 
commotions  in  a  great  measure 
subsided  by  the  interference  of  the 
council  of  Basil,  in  the  year  1433. 

The  Hussites,  who  were  divided 
into  two  parties,  viz.  the  Calixtines 
and  the  Taborites,  spread  over  all 
Bohemia  and  Hungary,  and  even 
Silesia  and  Poland;  and  there  are, 
it  is  said,  some  remains  of  them 
still  subsisting  in  all  those  pares. 


HUT 


160 


HUT 


Broughton^s  Diet. ;  MiddletorCs 
Evang.  Biog.^  vol.  i;  Moshehn^s 
Eccles.  Hist. 

HUTCHINSONIANS,  the 
followers  of  John  Hutchinson,  who 
was  born  in  Yorkshire  in  1674. 
In  the  early  part  of  his  life  he  serv- 
ed the  duke  of  Somerset  in  the  ca- 
pacity of  steward  ;  and  in  the  course 
of  his  travels  from  place  to  place 
employed  himself  in  collecting  fos- 
sils. We  are  told  that  the  large 
and  noble  collection  bequeathed  by 
Dr.  Woodward  to  the  University 
of  Cambridge  v/as  actually  made 
by  him,  and  even  unfairly  obtained 
from  hira.  In  172-i  he  published 
the  first  paft  of  his  curious  book, 
called  Moses's  Principia^  in  which 
he  ridiculed  Dr.  Woodward's  Na- 
tural History  of  the  ^arth,  and  ex- 
ploded the  doctrine  of  gravitation 
established  in  Newton's  Principia. 
In  1 727",  he  published  a  second  part 
of  Moses's  Principia,  containing 
the  principles  of  the  scripture  phi- 
losophy. From  this  time  to  his 
death  he  published  a  volume  every 
year  or  two,  v/hich,  with  the  ma- 
nuscripts he  left  behind,  were  pub- 
lished in  1748,  in  12  volumes,  8vo. 
On  the  Monday  before  his  death. 
Dr.  Mead  urged  him  to  be  bled ; 
saying,  pleasantly,  "  I  will  soon 
send  you  to  Moses,"  meaning  his 
studies;  but  Mr.  Hutchinson  tak- 
ing it  in  the  literal  sense,  ansv/er- 
ed,  in  a  muttering  tone,  "  I  believe, 
doctor,  you  will ;"  and  was  so  dis- 
pleased, that  he  dismissed  him  for 
another  physician  ;  but  he  died  in 
a  few  days  after,  August  28, 
1737. 

It  appears  to  be  a  leading  senti- 
isient  ot  this  denomination,  that  all 
our  ideas  of  divinity  are  formed 
from"  the  ideas  in  nature,— that  na- 


ture is  a  standard  picture,  and  scrip- 
ture an  application  of  the  several 
parts  of  that  picture,  to  draw  out 
to,  as  the  great  things  of  God,  in 
oi'der  to  reform  our  mental  con^ 
ceptions.  To  prove  this  point  they 
allege,  that  the  scriptures  declare 
the  invisible  things  of  God  from  the 
formation  of  the  -world  are  clearly 
seen^  being  understood  bij  the  things 
which  are  made ;  even  his  eternal 
poxver  and  Godhead^  (Rom.  i,  20.) 
The  heavens  must  declare  God^s 
righteousness  and  truth  in  the  con- 
gregation of  the  saints^  (Ps.  Ixxxix, 
5.)  And  in  short  the  whole  system 
of  nature,  in  one  \'oice  of  analogy, 
declares  and  gives  us  ideas  of  his 
glory,  and  shews  us  his  handy-work. 
We  cannot  have  any  ideas  of  invi- 
sible things  till  they  are  pointed 
out  to  us  by  revelation  :  and  as  we 
cannot  know  them  immediately, 
such  as  they  are  in  themselves,  af- 
ter the  manner  in  which  we  know 
sensible  objects,  they  must  be  com- 
municated to  us  by  the  mediation 
of  such  things  as  we  already  com- 
prehend. For  this  reason  the  scrip- 
ture is  found  to  have  a  language  of 
its  own,  which  does  not  consist  of 
words,  but  of  signs  or  figures  taken 
from  visible  things:  inconsequence 
of  which  the  world  which  we  now 
see  becomes  a  sort  of  commentary 
on  the  mind  of  God,  and  explains 
the  Vk'orld  in  which  we  believe. 
The  doctrines  of  the  christian 
faith  are  attested  by  the  whole  na- 
tural world :  they  are  recorded  in 
a  language  "which  has  never  been 
confounded  ;  they  are  written  in 
a  text  which  shall  never  be  cor- 
rupted. 

TlieHutchinsonians  maintain  that 
the  great  mystery  of  the  trinity  is 
conveyed  to  our  understandings  by 


HUT 


361 


HUT 


ideas  of  sense  ;  and  that  the  cre- 
ated substance  of  the  air,  or  hea- 
ven, in  its  three-fold  agency  of 
fire,  light,  and  spirit,  is  the  enigma 
of  the  one  essence,  or  one  Jehovah 
in  three  persons.  The  unity  of 
essence  is  exhibited  by  its  unity  of 
substance ;  the  trinity  of  condi- 
tions, fire,  light,  and  spirit.  Thus 
the  one  substance  of  the  air,  or 
heaven,  in  its  three  conditions, 
shews  the  unity  in  trinity ;  and  its 
three  conditions  in  or  of  one  sub- 
stance, the  trinity  in  unity.  For 
(says  this  denomination)  if  we 
consult  the  writings  of  the  Old  and 
New  Testaments,  we  shall  find  the 
persons  of  the  Deity  represented 
under  the  names  and  characters 
of  the  three  material  agents,  fire, 
light,  and  spirit,  and  their  actions 
expressed  by  the  actions  of  these 
their  emblems.  The  Father  is 
called  a  consuming  fire  ;  and  his 
judicial  proceedings  are  spoken  of 
in  words  which  denote  the  several 
actions  of  fire.  Jehovah  is  a  con- 
suming fire — Our  Ged  is  a  consum- 
ing firey  Deut.  iv,  24.  Heb.  xii, 
29.  The  Son  has  the  name  of 
light,  and  his  purifying  actions  and 
offices  are  described  by  words 
which  denote  the  actions  and  offi- 
ces of  light.  He  is  the  true  light, 
tvhich  lighteth  every  man  that  cometh 
into  the  luorlcl,  John  i,  9.  Mai.  iv,  2. 
The  Comforter  has  the  name  of 
Spirit ;  and  his  animating  and  sus- 
taining offices  are  described  by 
words,  for  the  actions  and  offices 
of  the  material  spirit.  His  actions 
in  the  spiritual  economy  are  agree- 
able to  his  type  in  the  natural 
economy  ;  such  as  inspiring,  im- 
pelling, driving,  leading.  Matt.  ii. 
1.  The  philosophic  system  of  the 
Vol.  I.  3  A 


Hutchinsonians  is  derived  from  the 
Hebrew  scriptures.  The  truth  of 
it  rests  on  these  suppositions.  1. 
That  the  Hebrew  language  was 
formed  under  divine  inspiration, 
either  all  at  once,  or  at  different 
times,  as  occasion  required ;  and 
that  the  Divine  being  had  a  view- 
in  constructing  it  to  the  various 
revelations  which  he  in  all  suc- 
ceeding times  should  make  in  that 
language :  consequently  that  its 
^words  must  be  the  most  proper 
and  determinate  to  convey  such 
truths  as  the  Deity,  during  the  Old 
Testament  dispensation,  thought 
fit  to  make  known  to  the  sons  of 
men.  Farther  than  this  :  that  the 
inspired  penmen  of  those  ages  at 
least  were  under  the  guidance  of 
heaven  in  the  choice  of  words  for 
recording  what  was  revealed  to 
them  J  therefore  that  the  Old  Tes- 
tament, if  the  language  be  rightly 
understood,  is  the  most  determi- 
nate in   its  meaning  of  any  other 

book     under    heaven. 2.    That 

whatever  is  recorded  in  the  Old 
Testament  is  strictly  and  literally 
true,  allowing  only  for  a  few  com- 
mon figures  of  rhetoric  :  that  no- 
thing contrary  to  truth  is  accom- 
modated to  vulgar  apprehensions. 
In  proof  of  this  the  Hutchinso- 
nians argue  in  this  manner.  The 
primary  and  ultimate  design  of 
revelation  is  indeed  to  teach  men 
divinity ;  but  in  subserviency  to 
that,  geography,  history,  and  chro- 
nology, are  occasionally  introdu- 
ced ;  all  which  are  allowed  to  be 
just  and  authentic.  There  are 
also  innumerable  references  to 
things  of  nature,  and  descriptions 
of  them.  If,  then,  the  former  arc 
just,  and  to  be  depended  on,  for 


HUT 


362 


HYM 


the  same  reason  the  latter  ought  to 
be  esteemed  philosophically  true. 
Farther :  they  think  it  not  unwor- 
thy of  God,  that  he  should  make 
it  a  secondary  end  of  his  revela- 
tion to  unfold  the  secrets  of  his 
v/orks  5  as  the  primary  was  to  make 
known,  the  mysteries  of  his  nature, 
and  the  designs  of  his  grace,  that 
men  might  thereby  be  led  to  ad- 
mire and  adore  the  wisdom  and 
goodness  which  the  great  Author 
of  the  universe  has  displayed 
throughout  all  his  works.  And  as 
our  minds  are  often  referred  to 
natural  things  for  ideas  of  spirit- 
ual truths,  it  is  of  great  import- 
ance, in  order  to  conceive  aright 
of  divine  matters,  that  our  ideas 
of  the  natural  things  referred  to 
be  strictly  just  and  true. 

Mr.  Hutchinson  found  that  the 
Hebrew  scriptures  had  some  capi- 
tal words,  which  he  thought  had 
not  been  duly  considered  and  un- 
derstood ;  and  Vv^hich,  he  has  en- 
deavoured to  prove,  contain  in 
their  radical  meaning  the  greatest 
and  most  comfortable  truths.  The 
cherubim  he  explains  to  be  a  hie- 
roglyphic of  divine  construction, 
or  a  sacred  image,  to  describe,  as 
far  as  figures  could  go,  the  hu- 
manity united  to  Deity :  and  so 
he  treats  of  several  other  words  of 
similar  import.  From  all  which 
he  concluded,  that  the  rites  and  ce- 
remonies of  the  Jewish  dispensa- 
tion were  so  many  delineations  of 
Christ,  in  what  he  was  to  be,  to  do, 
and  to  suiFer  ;  that  the  early  Jews 
knew  them  to  be  types  of  his  ac- 
tions and  sufferings ;  and  by  per- 
forming them  as  such,  \vere  so  far 
Christians  both  in  faith  and  prac- 
tice. 


The  Hutchinsonians  have,  for 
the  most  part,  been  men  of  devout 
minds,  zealous  in  the  cause  of 
Christianity,  and  untainted  v/ith 
heterodox  opinions,  M^hich  have 
so  often  divided  the  church  of 
Christ.  The  names  of  Romaine, 
bishop  Home,  Parkhurst,  and 
others  of  this  denomination,  will 
be  long  esteemed,  both  for  the 
piety  they  possessed,  and  the  good 
they  have  been  the  instruments  of 
promoting  amongst  mankind. — 
Should  the  reader  wish  to  know 
more  of  the  philosophical  and  the- 
ological opinions  of  Mr.  Hutch- 
inson, he  may  consult  a  work,  en- 
titled «  An  Abstract  of  the  Works 
of  John  Hutchinson,  Esq.  Edin- 
burgh, 1753."  See  also  Jones's 
Life  of  Bishop  Home,  2d  edit.  ; 
Jones's  Works  ;  Spear)7ia?i' s  Inquiry y 
p.  260-273. 

HYMN,  a  song  or  ode  in  ho- 
nour of  the  Divine  Being.  St,  Hi- 
lary, bishop  of  Poictiers,  is  said  to 
have  been  the  first  who  composed 
hymns  to  be  sung  in  churches,  and 
was  followed  by  St.  Ambrose. — 
Most  of  those  in  the  Roman  bre- 
viary v/ere  composed  by  Pruden- 
tius.  The  hymns  or  odes  of  the 
aneients  generally  consisted  of  three 
sorts  of  stanzas,  one  of  which  vi^as 
sung  by  the  band  as  they  walked 
from  east  to  west ;  another  was 
performed  as  they  returned  from 
west  to  east  j  the  third  part  was 
sung  before  the  altar.  The  Jewish 
hymns  were  accompanied  with 
trumpets,  drums,  and  cymbals,  to 
assist  the  voices  of  the  Levites  and 
the  people.  We  have  had  a  con- 
siderable number  of  hymns  com- 
posed in  our  own  country.  The 
most  esteemed  are  those  of  Watts, 


HYP 


S63 


HYP 


Doddridge,  Newton,  and  Hart. — 
As  to  selections,  few  are  superior 
to  Dr.  Rippon's  and  Dr.  Wil- 
liams's.    See  Psalmody. 

HYPOCRISY  is  a  seeming  or 
professing  to  be  what  in  truth  and 
reality  we  are  not.  It  consists  in 
assuming  a  character  which  we  are 
conscious  does  not  belong  to  us, 
and  by  which  we  intentionally  im- 
pose upon  the  judgment  and  opin- 
ion of  mankind  concerning  us. — 
The  name  is  borrowed  from  the 
Greek  tongue,  in  which  it  prima- 
rily signifies  the  profession  of  a 
stage  player,  which  is  to  express 
in  speech,  habit,  and  action,  not 
his  own  person  and  manners,  but 
his  whom  he  undertakes  to  repre- 
sent. And  so  it  is,  for  the  very 
essence  of  hypocrisy  lies  in  apt 
imitation  and  deceit ;  in  acting  the 
part  of  a  member  of  Christ  with- 
out any  saving  grace.  The  hypo- 
crite is  a  double  person  ;  he  has  one 
person,  which  is  natural  ;  another, 
which  is  artificial :  the  first  he 
keeps  to  himself ;  the  other  he  puts 
on  as  he  doth  his  cloaths,  to  make 
his  appearance  in  before  men. — 
It  was  ingeniously  said  by  Basil, 
*'  that  the  hypocrite  has  not  put 
off  the  old  man,  but  put  on  the 
new  upon  it."  Hypocrites  have 
been  divided  into  four  sorts.  1. 
The  worldly  hypocrite,  who  makes 
a  profession  of  religion,  and  pre- 
tends to  be  religious,  merely  from 
worldly  considerations.  Matt,  xxiii, 
5. — 2.  I'he  legal  hypocrite,  who 
relinquishes  his  vicious  practices, 
in  order  thereby  to  merit  heaven, 
while  at  the  same  time  he  has  no 
real  love  to  God,  Rom.  x,  3. — 
3.  The  evn/igelical  hypocritSf  whose 
lelision   is  nothinsr   more  than  a 


bare  conviction  of  sin  j  who  re- 
joices under  the  idea  that  Christ 
died  for  him,  and  yet  has  no  de- 
sire to  live  a  holy  life,  Matt,  xiii, 
20.  2d  Pet.  ii,  20. — 4.  The  enthu- 
siastic hypocrite,  who  has  an  ima- 
ginary sight  of  his  sin,  and  of 
Christ ;  talks  of  remarkable  impul- 
ses and  high  feelings  ;  and  thinks 
himself  very  wise  and  good  while 
he  lives  in  the  most  scandalous 
practices.  Matt,  xiii,  39.  2d  Cor, 
xi,  14.  Crook  on  Hypocrisy  ;  Decoet- 
logoiis  Sermon  on  Vs.  li,  6  ;  Grove's 
Mor.  PhiLy  vol.  ii,  p.  253  ;  South's 
Ser.  on  Job  viii,  13,  vol.  10;  Bel- 
lamfs  Relig.  Del.^  p.  166. 

HYPOSTASIS,  a  term  literally 
signifying  substance  or  subsistence, 
or  that  which  is  put  and  stands 
under  another  thing,  and  supports 
It,  being  its  base,  ground,  or  foun- 
dation. Thus  faith  is  the  sub- 
stantial foundation  of  things  hoped 
for,  Heb.  xi,  1.  The  word  is 
Greek  vnoa-roio-isj  compounded  of 
yTTo,  sub^  under ;  and  la-r/ii^i^  <«  sto"  I 
stand,  I  exist,  q.  d.  "  subsistentla." 
It  likewise  signifies  confidence, 
stability,  firmness,  2d  Cor.  ix,  4. 
It  Is  also  used  for /i^rjo«,  Heb.  i,  3. 
Thus  we  hold  that  there  is  but  one 
nature  or  essence  in  God,  but 
three  hypostases,  or  persons.  The 
word  has  occasioned  great  dissen- 
sions in  the  ancient  church,  first 
among  the  Greeks,  and  afterwards 
among  the  Latins  ;  but  an  end  was 
put  to  them  by  a  synod  held  at 
Alexandria  about  the  year  362,  at 
which  St.  Athanaslus  assisced  •, 
from  which  time  the  Latins  made 
no  great  scruple  of  saying  three  hy- 
postasesy  nor  the  Greeks  of  three 
persons.  The  hypostatical  union  is 
the  union  of  the  human  nature  of 


JAN 


364 


JAN 


Christ  with  the  divine ;  consti- 
tuting two  natures  in  one  person, 
and  not  two  persons  in  one  nature, 
as  the  Nestorians  believe.  See 
Jesus  Christ. 

HYPSISTARII  (formed  from 
v^itrros^  *<'  highest"),  a  sect  of  here- 
tics in  the  fourth  century ;  thus 
called  from  the  profession  they 
made  of  worshipping  the  Most 
High  God. 

The  doctrine  of  the  Hypsistari- 


ans  was  an  assemblage  of  Pagan- 
ism, Judaism,  and  Christianity.-— 
They  adored  the  most  High  God 
with  the  Christians  ;  but  they  also 
revered  fire  and  lamps  with  the 
Heathens,  and  observed  the  sab- 
bath, and  the  distinctioji  of  clean 
and  unclean  things,  with  the  Jews. 
The  Hypsistarii  bore  a  near  re- 
semblance to  the  Euchites,  or  Mes- 
salians. 


I  and  J. 


JACOBITES,  a  sect  of  Chris- 
tians in  Syria  and  Mesopotamia  ; 
so  called,  either  from  Jacob,  a  Sy- 
rian, who  lived  in  the  reign  of  the 
emperor  Mauritius,  or  from  one 
Jacob,  a  monk,  who  flourished  in 
the  year  550. 

The  Jacobites  arc  of  two  sects, 
some  following  the  rites  of  the  La- 
tin church,  and  others  continuing 
separated  from  the  church  of 
Rome.  There  is  also  a  division 
among  the  latter,  who  have  two 
rival  patriarchs.  As  to  their  be- 
lief, they  hold  but  one  nature  in 
Jesus  Christ :  with  respect  to  pur- 
gatory, and  prayers  for  the  dead, 
they  are  of  the  same  opinion  with 
the  Greeks,  and  other  eastern 
Christians.  They  consecrate  un- 
leavened bread  at  the  eucharist, 
and  are  against  confession,  believ- 
ing that  it  is  not  of  divine  institu- 
tion. 

JANSENISTS,  a  sect  of  the 
Roman  Catholics  in  France  who 
followed  the  opinions  of  Jansenius 
(bishop  of  Ypres,  and  doctor  of 
divinity  of  the  universities  of  Lou- 


vain  and  Douay),  in  relation  to 
grace  and  predestination. 

In  the  year  1640,  the  two  uni- 
versities just  mentioned,  and  par- 
ticularly father  Molina  and  fa- 
ther Leonard  Celsus,  thought  fit 
to  condemn  the  opinions  of  the 
Jesuits  on  grace  and  free  will.— 
This  having  set  the  controversy  on 
foot,  Jansenius  opposed  to  the 
doctrine  of  the  Jesuits  the  senti- 
ments of  St.  Augustine,  and  wrote 
a  treatise  on  grace  which  he  en- 
titled Augustinus.  This  treatise 
was  attacked  by  the  Jesuits,  who 
accused  Jansenius  of  maintaining 
dangerous  and  heretical  opinions  ; 
and  afterwards,  in  1642,  obtained 
of  pope  Urban  VIII  a  formal  con- 
demnation of  the  treatise  wrote 
by  Jansenius  ;  when  the  partizans 
of  Jansenius  gave  out  that  this 
bull  was  spurious,  and  composed 
by  a  person  entirely  devoted  to  the 
Jesuits.  After  the  death  of  Ur- 
ban VIII,  the  affair  of  Jansenism 
began  to  be  more  warmly  contro- 
verted, and  gave  birth  to  a  great 
number  of  polemical  writings  con- 


JAN 


365 


JAN 


cerning  grace ;  and  what  occa- 
sioned some  mirth,  were  the  titles 
which  each  party  gave  to  their 
writings  :  one  writer  pubUshed  the 
Torch  of  St.  Augustine ;  another 
found  Snuffers  for  St.  Augustine's 
Torch ;  and  father  Veron  formed 
A  Gag  for  the  Jansenists^  &c.  In 
the  year  1650,  sixty-eight  bishops 
of  France  subscribed  a  letter  to 
pope  Innocent  X,  to  obtain  an  in- 
quiry into  and  condemnation  of 
the  five  following  propositions, 
extracted  from  Jansenius'  Augus- 
tinus  :  1.  Some  of  God's  com- 
mandments are  impossible  to  be 
observed  by  the  righteous,  even 
though  they  endeavour  with  all 
their  power  to  accomplish  them. — 
2.  In  the  state  of  corrupted  na- 
ture, we  are  incapable  of  resisting 
inward  grace. — 3.  Merit  and  de- 
merit, in  a  state  of  corrupted  na- 
ture, do  not  depend  on  a  liberty 
which  excludes  necessity,  but  on  a 
liberty  which  excludes  constraint. 
— 4.  The  Semi-pelagians  admitted 
the  necessity  of  an  inward  pre- 
venting grace  for  the  performance 
of  each  particular  act,  even  for  the 
beginning  of  faith  ;  but  they  were 
heretics  in  maintaining  that  this 
grace  was  of  such  a  nature  that 
the  will  of  man  was  able  either  to 
resist  or  obey  it. — 5.  It  is  Semi- 
pelagianism  to  say,  that  Jesus 
Christ  died,  or  shed  his  blood,  for 
all  mankind  in  general. 

In  the  year  1G52,  the  pope  ap- 
pointed a  congregation  for  ex- 
amining into  the  dispute  relative 
to  grace.  In  this  congregation 
Jansenius  was  condemned  ;  and 
the  bull  of  condemnation  published 
in  May,  1653,  filled  all  the  pulpits 
in  Paris  with  violent  ontcries  and 


alarms  against  the  Jansenists.  la 
the  year  1656,  pope  Alexander 
VII  issued  out  another  bull,  in 
which  he  condemned  the  five  pro- 
positions of  Jansenius.  However^ 
the  Jansenists  afiirmed  that  these 
propositions  were  not  to  be  found 
in  this  book  ;  but  that  some  of  his 
enemies  having  caused  them  to 
be  printed  on  a  sheet,  inserted 
them  in  the  book,  and  thereby  de- 
ceived the  pope.  At  last  Clement 
XI  put  an  end  to  the  dispute  by 
his  constitution  of  July  17,  1705, 
in  which,  after  having  recited  the 
constitutions  of  his  predecessors 
in  relation  to  this  affair,  he  de- 
clared, "  That,  in  ordipr  to  pay 
a  proper  obedience  to  the  papal 
constitutions  concerning  the  pre- 
sent question,  it  is  necessary  to  re- 
ceive them  with  a  respectful  si- 
lence." The  clergy  of  Paris,  the 
same  year,  approved  and  accepted 
this  bull,  and  none  dared  to  op- 
pose it.  This  is  the  famous  bull 
Unigenitus^  so  called  from  its  be- 
ginning with  the  words  Uriigenitus 
Dei  Filius^  &c.,  which  has  occa- 
sioned so  much  confusion  in. 
France. 

It  was  not  only  on  account  of 
their  embracing  the  doctrines  of 
Augustine,  that  the  Jesuits  were 
so  embittered  against  them  ;  but 
that  which  offended  the  Jesuits, 
and  the^other  creatures  of  the  Ro- 
man pontiff,  was,  their  strict  piety, 
and  severe  moral  discipline.  The 
Jansenists  cried  out  against  the 
corruptions  of  the  church  of  Rome, 
and  complained  that  neither  its 
doctrines  nor  morals  retained  any 
traces  of  their  former  purity- — 
They  reproached  the  clergy  with 
an  universal  depravation  of  senti- 


JAN 


:66 


ICO 


ments  and  manners,  and  an  entire 
forgetfulness  of  the  dignity  of 
their  character  and  the  duties  of 
their  vocation ;  they  censured  the 
hcentiousness  of  the  monastic  or- 
ders, and  insisted  upon  the  neces- 
sity of  reforming  their  discipline 
according  to  the  rules  of  sanctity, 
abstinence,  and  self-denial,  that 
were  originally  prescribed  by  their 
respective  founders.  They  main- 
tained, also,  that  the  people  ought 
to  be  carefully  instructed  in  all  the 
dotrines  and  precepts  of  Christian- 
ity ;  and  that,  for  this  purpose, 
the  holy  scriptures  and  public  lit- 
urgies should  be  otTered  to  their 
perusal  in  their  mother  tongue ; 
and,  finally,  they  looked  upon  it 
as  a  matter  of  the  highest  moment 
to  persuade  all  Christians  that  true 
piety  did  not  consist  in  the  observ- 
ance of  pompous  rites,  or  in  the 
performance  of  external  acts  of  de- 
votion, but  in  inward  holiness  and 
divine  love. 

Notwithstanding  the  above- 
mentioned  sentiments,  the  Jansen- 
ists  have  been  accused  of  supersti- 
tion and  fanaticism  j  and,  on  ac- 
count of  their  severe  discipline 
and  practice,  have  been  denomi- 
nated Rigourists.  It  is  said,  that 
they  made  repentance  consist 
chiefly  in  those  voluntary  suffer- 
ings which  the  transgressor  inflict- 
ed upon  himself,  in  proportion  to 
the  nature  of  his  crimes  and  the 
degree  of  his  guiit.  They  tor- 
tured and  macerated  their  bodies 
by  painful  labour,  excessive  absti- 
nence, continual  prayer,  and  con- 
templation :  nay,  they  carried  these 
austerities,  it  is  said,  to  so  high  a 
pitch,  as  to  place  merit  in  them, 


and  to  consider  those  as  the  sacred 
njictims  of  repentance  who  had  gra- 
dually put  an  end  to  their  days  by 
their  excessive  abstinence  and  la- 
bour. Dr.  Haweis,  however,  in 
his  Church  History  (vol.  iii,  p.  46), 
seems  to  form  a  more  favourable 
opinion  of  them,  "  I  do  not," 
says  he,  "  readily  receive  the  ac- 
cusations that  Papists  or  Protes- 
tants have  objected  to  them,  as  over 
rigorous  and  fanatic  in  their  devo- 
tion J  but  I  will  admit  many  things 
might  be  blameable  :  a  tincture  of 
popery  might  drive  them  to  push 
monkish  austerities  too  far,  and 
secretly  to  place  some  merit  in 
mortification,  which  they  in  gene- 
ral disclaimed  ;  yet,  with  all  that 
can  be  said,  surely  the  root  of  the 
matter  was  in  them.  When  I  read 
Jansenius,  or  his  disciples  Pascal 
or  Quesnel,  I  bow  before  such 
distinguished  excellencies,  and  con- 
fess them  my  brethren  ;  shall  I  say 
my  fathers  .''  Their  principles  are 
pure  and  evangelical ;  their  morals 
formed  upon  the  apostles  and  pro- 
phets j  and  their  zeal  to  amend 
and  convert,  blessed  with  eminent 
success." 

IBERIANS,  a  denomination  of 
eastern  Christians,  which  derive 
their  name  from  Iberia,  a  province 
of  Asia  now  called  Georgia  :  hence 
they  are  also  called  Georgians. 
Their  tenets  are  said  to  be  the  same 
with  those  of  the  Greek  church, 
which  see. 

ICONOCLASTES,  or  Icono- 
clasts, breakers  of  images ;  a 
name  which  the  church  of  Rome 
gives  to  all  who  reject  the  use  of 
mages  in  religious  matters.  The 
vvcrd  is  Greek,  formed  from  swav, 


iC  o 


bOi 


ICO 


imago f  and  xKoccrTnv,  rumpere,  "  to 
break."  In  this  sense  not  only 
the  reformed,  but  some  of  the 
eastern  churches  are  called  icom- 
c/asUs,  and  esteemed  by  them  he- 
retics, as  opposing  the  worship  of 
the  images  of  God  and  the  saints, 
and  breaking  their  figures  and  re- 
presentations in  churches. 

The  opposition  to  images  began 
in  Greece,  under  the  reign  of  Bar- 
danes,  who.  was  created  emperor 
of  the  Greeks  a  little  after  the 
commencement  of  the  eighth  cen- 
tury, when  the  worship  of  them 
became  common.  See  Image. 
But  the  tumults  occasioned  by  it 
were  quelled  by  a  revolution, 
which,  in  ri3,  deprived  Bardanes 
of  the  Imperial  throne.  The  dis- 
pute, however,  broke  out  with 
redoubled  fury  under  Leo  the 
Isaurian,  who  issued  out  an  edict 
in  the  year  726,  abrogating,  as 
some  say,  the  worship  of  images ; 
and  ordering  all  the  images,  except 
that  of  Christ's  crucifixion,  to  be 
removed  out  of  the  churches  ;  but, 
according  to  others,  this  edict  only 
prohibited  the  paying  to  them  any 
kind  of  adoration  or  worship. — 
This  edict  occasioned  a  civil  war, 
which  broke  out  in  the  islands  of 
the  Archipelago,  and,  by  the  sug- 
gestions of  the  priests  and  monks, 
ravaged  a  part  of  Asia,  and  after- 
wards reached  Italy.  The  civil 
commotions  and  insurrections  in 
Italy  were  chiefly  promoted  by  the 
Roman  pontiffs,  Gregory  I  and 
II.  Leo  was  excommunicated ; 
and  his  subjects  in  the  Italian  pro- 
vinces violated  their  allegiance, 
and,  rising  in  arms,  either  massa- 
cred or  banished  all  the  emperor's 
deputies  and  officers.     In  conse- 


quence of  these  proceedings,  Le© 
assembled  a  council  at  Constan- 
tinople in  730,  which  degraded 
German  us,  bishop  of  that  city, 
who  was  a  patron  of  images  ;  and 
he  ordered  all  the  images  to  be 
publicly  burnt,  and  inflicted  a  va- 
riety of  severe  punishments  upoa 
such  as  were  attached  to  that  idol- 
atrous worship.  Hence  arose  two 
factions,  one  of  which  adopted  the 
adoration  and  worship  of  images, 
and  on  that,  account  were  called 
icor.odulij  or  iconolatra ;  and  the 
other  maintained  that  such  wor- 
ship was  unlawful,  and  that  no- 
thing was  more  worthy  the  zeal 
of  Christians  than  to  demolish  and 
destroy  those  statues  and  pictures 
which  were  the  occasion  of  this 
gross  idolatry ;  and  hence  they 
were  distinguished  by  the  titles  of 
icono-7nachi  (from  zdioov^  image,  and 
;.>.%-Xj^'f  I  contend)  and  iconoclastiE. — 
The  zeal  of  Gregory  II  in  favour 
of  image  worship  was  not  only 
irritated,  but  even  surpassed,  by 
his  successor  Gregory  III ;  in  con- 
sequence of  which  the  Italian  pro- 
vinces were  torn  from  the  Grecian 
empire.  Constantine,  called  Co- 
pronimus,  in  754,  convened  a 
council  at  Constantinople,  regard- 
ed by  the  Greeks  as  the  seventh 
oecumenical  council,  which  so- 
lemnly CO':  iemned  the  worship  and 
use  of  images.  Those  who,  not- 
withstanding this  decree  of  the 
council,  raised  commotions  in  the 
state,  were  severely  punished,  and 
new  laws  were  enacted  to  set 
bounds  to  the  violence  of  monas- 
tic rage.  Leo  IV,  who  was  de- 
clared emperor  in  775,  pursued 
the  same  measures,  and  had  re- 
course to  the   coercive   influence 


ICO 


368 


ICO 


of  penal  laws,  in  order  to  extir- 
pate idolatry  out  of  the  christian 
church.  Irene,  the  wife  of  Leo, 
poisoned  her  husband  in  780  ;  as- 
sumed the  reins  of  the  empire 
during  the  minority  of  her  son 
Constantine ;  and  in  7So  sum- 
ftioned  a  council  at  Nice,  in  Bithy- 
nia,  known  by  the  name  of  the 
Second  Nicene  Council^  which  abro- 
gated the  laws  and  decrees  against 
the  new  idolatry,  restored  the 
worship  of  images  and  of  the 
cross,  and  denounced  severe  pu- 
nishments against  those  who  main- 
tained that  God  "was  the  only  ob- 
ject of  religious  adoration.  In 
this  contest  the  Britons,  Germans, 
and  Gauls,  were  of  opinion  that 
images  might  be  lawfully  conti- 
nued in  churches ;  but  they  con- 
sidered the  worship  of  them  as 
highly  injurious  and  offensive  to 
the  Supreme  Being.  Charlemagne 
distinguished  himself  as  a  medi- 
ator in  this  controversy :  he  or- 
dered four  books  concerning  ima- 
ges to  be  composed,  refuting  the 
reasons  urged  by  the  Nicene  bi- 
shops to  justify  the  worship  of 
images,  which  he  sent  to  Adrian, 
the  Roman  pontiff,  in  790,  in  or- 
der to  engage  him  to  withdraw  his 
approbation  of  the  decrees  of  the 
last  council  of  Nice.  Adrian  wrote 
an  answer ;  and  in  79,4^  a  council 
of  300  bishops,  assembled  by 
Charlemagne,  at  Francfort,  on 
the  Maine,  confirmed  the  opinion 
contained  in  the  four  books,  and 
solemnly  condemned  the  worship 
of  images. 

In  the  Greek  church,  after  the 
Banishment  of  Irene,  the  contro- 
versy concerning  images  broke  out 
anew,  and  was  carried  on  by  the 


contending  parties,  during  the  half 
of  the  ninth  century,  with  various 
and  uncertain  success.  The  em- 
peror Nicephorus  appears,  upon 
the  whole,  to  have  been  an  enemy 
to  this  idolatrous  worship.  His 
successor,  Michael  Curopalates, 
surnamed.  Rhangabcy  patronized 
and  encouraged  it.  But  the  scene 
changed  on  the  accession  of  Leo, 
the  Armenian,  to  the  empire,  who 
assembled  a  council  at  Constanti- 
nople, in  814,  that  abolished  the 
decrees  of  the  Nicene  council. 
His  successor,  Michael,  surnamed 
BalbuSi  disapproved  of  the  worship 
of  images,  and  his  son  Theophilus 
treated  them  with  great  severity. 
However,  the  empress  Theodora, 
after  his  death,  and  during  the 
minority  of  her  son,  assembled  a 
council  at  Constantinople  in  842, 
which  re-instated  the  decrees  of 
the  second  Nicene  council,  and 
encouraged  image  worship  by  a 
law.  The  council  held  at  the 
same  place  under  Photius,  in  879, 
and  reckoned  by  the  Greeks  the 
eighth  general  council,  confirmed 
and  renewed  the  Nicene  decrees. 
In  commemoration  of  this  council, 
a  festival  was  instituted  by  the 
superstitious  Greeks,  called  the 
Feast  of  Orthodoxy.  The  Latins 
were  generally  of  opinion  that 
images  might  be  suffered,  as  the 
means  of  aiding  the  memory  of 
the  faithful,  and  of  calling  to  their 
remembrance  the  pious  exploits 
and  virtuous  actions  of  the  persons 
whom  they  represented  j  but  they 
detested  all  thoughts  of  paying 
them  the  least  marks  of  religious 
homage  or  adoration.  The  coun- 
cil of  Paris,  assembled  in  824  by 
Louis  the  Meek,  resolved  to  allow 


ICO 


369 


IDL 


the  use  of  images  in  the  churches, 
but  severely  prohibited  rendering 
them  religious  worship  :  never- 
theless, tov/ards  the  conclusion  of 
this  century,  the  Gallican  clergy 
began  to  pay  a  kind  of  religious 
homage  to  the  images  of  saints, 
and  their  example  was  followed  by 
the  Germans,  and  other  nations. 
However,  the  Iconoclastes  still  had 
their  adherents  among  the  Latins  j 
the  most  eminent  of  whom  was 
Claudius,  bishop  of  Turin,  who, 
in  823,  ordered  all  images,  and 
even  the  cross,  to  be  cast  out  of 
the  churches,  and  committed  to 
the  flames ;  and  he  wrote  a  trea- 
tise, in  which  he  declared  both 
against  the  use  and  v/orship  of 
them.  He  condemned  relics,  pil- 
grimages to  the  Holy  Land,  and 
all  voyages  to  the  tombs  of  saints  ; 
and  to  his  writing  and  labours  it 
was  owing,  that  the  city  of  Turin, 
and  the  adjacent  country,  was,  for 
a  long  time  after  his  death,  much 
less  infected  with  superstition  than 
the  other  parts  of  Europe.  The 
controversy  concerning  the  sanctity 
of  images  was  again  revived  by  Leo, 
bishop  of  Chalcedon,  in  the  11th 
century,  on  occasion  of  the  emperor 
Alexius's  converting  the  figures  of 
silver  that  adorned  the  portals  of 
the  churches  into  money,  in  or- 
der to  supply  the  exigencies  of  the 
state.  Thcbishop  obstinately  main- 
tained that  he  had  been  guilty  of 
sacrilege;  and  published  a  treatise, 
in  which  he  afErmed,  that  in 
these  images  there  resided  an  in- 
herent sanctity,  and  that  the  ado- 
ration of  Christians  ought  not  to 
be  confined  to  the  persons  repre- 
sented by  these  images,  but  ex- 
tend to  the  images  themselves. 
Vol..  L  .SB 


i|  The  emperor  assembled  a  council 
'  at  Constantinople,  which  defer- 
ij  mined  that  the  images  of  Christ 
i!  and  of  the  saints  were  to  be  ho- 
i!  noured  only  with  a  relative  wor- 
ship J  and  that  the  invocation  and 
worship  were  to  be  addressed  to 
the  saints  only,  as  the  servants  of 
Christ,  and  on  account  of  their 
relation  to  him  as  their  masterl 
Leo,  dissatisfied  with  these  absurd 
and  superstitious  decisions,  was 
sent  into  banishment.  In  the 
western  church  the  worship  of 
images  was  disapproved,  and  op- 
posed by  several  considerable  par- 
ties, as  the  Petrobrussians,  Albi- 
genses,  Waldenses,  &c. ;  till  at 
length  this  idolatrous  practice  was 
abolished  in  many  parts  of  the 
christian  world  by  the  reforma- 
tion. See  Image. 

ICONOLATR^,  or  Iconola- 
TERS,  those  who  worship  images  ; 
a  name  which  the  Iconoclastes  give 
to  those  of  the  Romish  commu- 
nion, on  account  of  their  adoring 
images,  and  of  rendering  to  them 
the  worship  only  due  to  God.  The 
word  is  formed  from  BtuMVy  image, 
and  AixTfEu^.',  I  worship.  See  last 
article,  and  article  Image. 

IDLENESS,  a  reluctancy  to  be 
employed  in  any  kind  of  work. 
The  idle  man  is  in  every  view  both 
foolish  and  criminal.  *'  He  neither 
lives  to  God,  to  the  world,  nor  to 
himself.  He  does  not  live  to  God, 
for  he  answers  not  the  end  for 
which  he  was  brought  into  being. 
Existence  is  a  sacred  trust ;  but 
he  who  misemploys  and  squanders 
it  away  thus  becomes  treacherous 
to  its  Author.  Those  powers  which 
should  be  employed  in  his  service, 
and  for  the  promotion  of  his  glory. 


IDL 


370 


ID  O 


lie   dormant.      The    time   which 
should    be   sacred  to    Jehovah    is 
lost ;  and  thus  he  enjoys   no  fel- 
lowship with  God,   nor  any  way 
devotes  himself  to  his  praise.     He 
lives  not  to  the  world,  nor  for  the 
benefit   of  his  fellow-creatures  a- 
round    him.     While    all    creation 
is    full    of   life    and    activity,  and 
nothing  stands  still  in  the  universe, 
he    remains    idle,    forgetting    that 
mankind  are  connected  by  various 
relations  and  mutual  dependances, 
and  that  the  order  of   the  world 
cannot  be  maintained  without  per- 
petual circulation  of  active  duties. 
He  lives  vot  to  himself.     Though  j 
he  imagines  that  he  leaves  to  others 
the  drudgery  of  life,  and  betakes 
himself    to   enjoyment    and    ease, 
yet,  in  fact,  he  has  no  true  pleasure. 
While  he  is  a  blank  in  society,  he 
is  no  less  a  torment  to  himself; 
for  he  who  knows  not  what  it  is 
to  labour,  knows  not  what  it  is  to 
enjoy.     He  shuts  the  door  against 
improvement  of  every  kind,  whe- 
ther of    mind,   body,  or  fortune. 
Sloth  enfeebles  equally  the  bodily 
■and  the  mental  powers.    His  cha-  ] 
racter  falls   into   contempt.     Dis-  '■', 
order,   confusion,    and  embarrass-  ' 
ment,    mark  his   whole  situation,  jj 
Idleness  is  the  inlet  to  a  variety  of  ■ 
other  vices.     It  undermines  every 
virtue   in  the   soul.    Violent  pas-  ; 
sions,  like  rapid  torrents,  run  their 
course;  but  after  having  overflowed 
their  banks,  their  impetuosity  sub- : 
sides :  but  sloth,  especially  when 
it   is  habitual,   is  like  the  slowly-  , 
flowing  putrid  stream,  which  stag- 
nates in  the  marsh,  breeds  veno- 
mous animals  and  poisonous  plants, 
arid    infects   with    pestilential    va-f 
pours  the  whole  country  round  it.  II 


Having  once  tainted  the  soul,  it 
leaves  no  part  of  it  sound  ;  and 
at  the  same  time  gives  not  those 
alarms  to  conscience  which  the 
eruptions  of  bolder  and  fiercer  emo- 
tions often  occasion."  Logan's  Set-' 
monsy  vol.  i,  ser.  4 ;  Blair's  Ser- 
monSf  vol.iii,  ser.  4;  Idler,  vol.  i, 
p.  5j  171,  172;  Ccu'per's  PoemSf 
228,  vol.  i,  duod. ;  Johnson's  Ram- 
Mery  vol.  ii,  p.  162,   163. 

IDOLATRY,  the  worship  of 
idols,or  the  act  of  ascribing  to  things 
and  persons,  properties  which  are 
peculiar  to  God  alone.  The  prin- 
cipal sources  of  idolatry  seem  to 
be  the  extravagant  veneration  for 
creatures  and  beings  from  which 
benefits  accrued  to  men.  Dr.  Jor- 
tin  says,  that  "  idolatry  had  four 
privileges  to  boast  of.  The  first  was 
a  venerable  antiquity,  more  ancient 
than  the  Jewish  religion;  and  idola- 
ters might  have  said  to  the  Israel- 
ites, Where  was  your  religion  be- 
fore Moses  and  Abraham  ?  Go, 
and  inquire  in  Chaldea,  and  there 
you  will  find  that  your  fathers 
served  other  gods. — 2.  It  was  wi- 
der spread  than  the  Jewish  reli- 
gion. It  was  the  religion  of  the 
greatest,  the  wisest,  and  the  politest 
nations  of  the  Chaldeans,  Egypti- 
ans, and  Phoenicians,  the  parents 
of  civil  government,  and  of  arts 
and  sciences. — .3.  It  was  more  a- 
dapted  to  the  bent  which  men  have 
tov/ards  visible  and  sensible  ob- 
jects. Men  want  gods  who  shall 
go  before  them,  and  be  among 
them..  God,  who  is  every  where  in 
povv-er,and  no  where  in  appearance, 
is  hard  to  be  conceived. — 4.  It  fa- 
voured human  passions;  it  requir- 
ed no  morality  ;  its  religious  ri- 
tual consisted  of  splendid  ceremo- 


IDO 


371 


IDO 


nies,  revelling,  dancing,  nocturnal 
assemblies,  impure  and  scandalous 
mysteries,  debauched  priests,  and 
gods,  who  were  both  slaves  and 
patrons  to  all  sorts  of  vices. 

"  All  the  more  remarkable  false 
religions  that  have  been,  or  are  in 
the  world,  recommend  themselves 
by  one  of  other  of  these  four  pri- 
vileges and  characters." 

The  first  objects  of  idolatrous  wor- 
ship are  thought  to  have  been  the 
sun,  moon,  and  stars.  Others  think 
that  angels  were  first  worshipped. 
Soon  after  the  flood  we  find  idola- 
try greatly  prevailing  in  the  world. 
Abraham's  father's  family  served 
other  gods  beyond  the  river  Eu- 
phrates ;  and  Laban  had  idols 
which  Rachael  brought  along  with 
her.  In  process  of  time,  noted  pa- 
rents, or  kings  deceased,  animals 
of  various  kinds,  plants,  stones, 
and,  in  fine,  whatever  people  took 
a  fancy  to,  they  idolized.  The 
Egyptians,  though  high  pretenders 
to  wisdom,  worshipped  pied  bulls, 
snipes,  leeks,  onions,  &c.  The 
Greeks  had  about  30,000  gods. 
The  Gomerians  deified  their  ancient 
kings ;  nor  were  the  Chaldeans, 
Romans,  Chinese,  &c.,  a  whit  less 
absurd.  Some  violated  the  most 
natural  affections  by  murdering 
multitudes  «)f  their  neighbours  and 
children,  under  pretence  of  sacri- 
ficing them  to  their  god.  Some 
nations  of  Germany,  Scandinavia, 
and  Tartary,  imagined  that  vio- 
lent death  in  war,  or  by  self-mur- 
der, was  the  proper  method  of  ac- 
cess to  the  future  enjoyment  of 
their  gods.  In  far  later  times, 
about  64,080  persons  were  sacri- 
ficed at  the  dedication  of  one  ido- 
latrous temple  in  the  space  of  four 


days  in  America.  The  Hebrews 
never  had  any  idols  of  their  own, 
but  they  adopted  those  of  the 
nations  around.  The  veneration 
which  the  Papists  pay  to  the  Vir- 
gin Mary,  and  other  saints  and 
angels,  and  to  the  bread  in  the  sa- 
crament, the  cross,  relics,  and 
images,  lays  a  foundation  for  the 
Protestants  to  charge  them  with 
idolatry,  though  they  deny  the 
charge.  It  is  evident  that  they 
worship  them,  and  that  they  jus- 
tify the  worship,  but  deny  the 
idolatry  of  it,  by  distinguishing 
subordinate  from  supreme  worship: 
the  one  they  call  latriuy  the  other 
didia ;  but  this  distinction  is 
thought  by  many  of  the  Protest- 
ants to  be  vain,  futile,  and  nuga- 
tory. 

Idolatry  has  been  divided  into 
metaphorical  and  proper.  By  meta- 
phorical idolatry  is  meant  that  in- 
ordinate love  of  riches,  honours, 
and  bodily  pleasures,  whereby  the 
passions  and  appetites  of  men  are 
made  superior  to  the  will  of  God ; 
man,  by  so  doing,  making  a  god. 
of  himself  and  his  sensual  temper. 
Proper  idolatry  is  giving  the  divine 
honour  to  another.  The  object* 
or  idols  of  that  honour  which  arc 
given  are  either  personal,  i.  e.  the 
idolatrous  themselves,  who  become 
their  bwn  statues ;  or  internal.,  as 
false  ideas,  which  are  set  up  in  the 
fancy  instead  of  God,  such  as  fan- 
cying God  to  be  a  light,  flame, 
matter,  &c.  ;  only  here,  the  scene 
being  internal,  the  scandal  of  the 
sin  is  thereby  abated  ;  or  external^ 
as  worshipping  angels,  the  sun, 
stars,  animals,  &c.  Tenison  on  IdoU 
airy ;  A.  Young  oit  Idolatrous 
Corruptions;      Ridgleys     Body     of 


JE  S 


oi-J. 


JES 


D'iv.<^    qu.    106  •,     FeWs     Idolatry  I 
of    Greece    and    Rome ;       Stilling-  \ 
Jleefs  .  Idolatry    of  the     Church    of 
Rome ;   Jortins  Ser.,  vol.  vi,  ser. 
18. 

JEALOUSY  is  that  particular 
uneasiness  which  arises  from  the 
fear  that  some  rival  may  rob  us  of 
the  affection  of  one  whom  we 
greatly  love,  or  suspicion  that  he 
hasa  Iready  done  it.  The  fiast  sort  of 
jealousy  is  inseparable  from  love, 
before  it  is  in  possession  of  its  ob- 
ject;  the  latter  is  unjust,  generally 
mischievous,  and  always  trouble- 
some. 

JEHOVAH,  one  of  the  scrip- 
ture names  of  God,  and  peculiar 
to  him,  signifying  the  Being  who 
is  self-existent,  and  gives  existence 
to  others.  The  name  is  also  given 
to  Christ,  Is.  xl,  3.  and  is  a  proof 
of  his  godhead.  Matt,  iii,  3.  Is.  vi. 
John  xii,  41.  The  Jews  had  so 
great  a  veneration  for  this  namcj 
that  they  left  off  the  custom  of 
pronouncing  it,  whereby  its  true 
pronunciation  was  forgotten.  They 
believe  that  whosoever  knows  the 
true  pronunciation  of  it  cannot 
fail  to  be  heard  of  God. 

JESUITS,  or  the  society  offestis; 
a  famous  religious  order  of  the 
Romish  church,  founded  by  Ig- 
natius Loyola,  a  Spanish  knight, 
in  the  sixteenth  century.  The  plan 
which  this  fanatic  formed  of  its 
constitution  and  laws  was  sug- 
gested, as  he  gave  out,  by  the 
immediate  inspiration  of  heaven. 
But,  notwithstanding  this  high 
pretension,  his  design  met  at  first 
with  violent  opposition.  The  pope, 
to  whom  Loyola  had  applied  for' 
the  sanction  of  his  authority  to 
confirm   the    institution,    referred 


his  petition  to  a  committee  of  car- 
dinals. They  represented  the  esta- 
blishment to  be  unnecessary  as 
well  as  dangerous,  and  Paul  re- 
fused to  grant  his  approbation  of 
it.  At  last,  Loyola  removed  all  his 
scruples,  by  an  offer  which  it  was 
impossible  for  any  pope  to  resist. 
He  proposed,  that  besides  the  three 
vows  of  poverty,  of  chastity,  and 
of  monastic  obedience,  vi'^hich  are 
common  to  all  the  orders  of  regu- 
lars, the  members  of  his  society 
should  take  a  fourth  vow  of  obe- 
dience to  the  pope,  binding  them- 
selves to  go  withersoever  he  should 
command  for  the  service  of  reli- 
gion, and  without  requiring  any 
thing  from  the  holy  see  for  their 
support.  At  a  time  v/hen  the 
papal  authority  had  received  such 
a  shock  by  the  revolt  of  so  many 
nations  from  the  R.omish  church, 
at  a  time  when  every  part  of  the 
popish  system  was  attacked  with 
so  much  violence  and  success,  the 
acquisition  of  a  body  of  men,  thus 
peculiarly  devoted  to  the  see  of 
Rome,  and  whom  it  might  set  in 
opposition  to  all  its  enemies,  was 
an  object  of  the  highest  conse- 
quence. Paul,  instantly  perceiving 
this,  confirmed  the  institution  of 
the  Jesuits  by  his  bull  \  granted 
the  most  ample  privileges  to  the 
members  of  the  society,  and  ap- 
pointed Loyola  to  be  the  first  ge- 
neral of  the  order.  The  event 
fully  justified  Paul's  discernment 
in  expecting  such  beneficial  con- 
sequences to  the  see  of  Rome  from 
this  institution.  In  less  than  half  a 
century  the  society  obtained  esta- 
blishments in  every  country  that 
adhered  to  the  Roman  Catholic 
church  ;  its  power  and  wealth  in- 


JE  S 


JE  S 


creased  amazingly  ;  the  number  of 
its  members  became  great ;  their 
character  as  well  as  accomplish- 
ments were  still  greater  ;  and  the 
Jesuits  were  celebrated  by  the 
friends  and  dreaded  by  the  enemies 
of  the  Romish  faith,  as  the  most 
able  and  enterprising  order  in  the 
church. 

2.  Jesuits^  object  of  the  order  of. 
— The  primary  object  of  almost 
all  the  monastic  orders  is  to  sepa- 
rate men  from  the  world,  and  from 
any  concern  in  its  affairs.  In  the 
solitude  and  silence  of  the  cloister, 
the  monk  is  called  to  work  out 
his  salvation  by  extraordinary  acts 
of  mortification  and  piety.  He  is 
dead  to  the  world,  and  ought  not 
to  minsrle  in  its  transactions.  He 
can  be  of  no  benefit  to  mankind 
but  by  his  example  and  by  his 
prayers.  On  the  contrary,  the 
Jesuits  are  taught  to  consider 
themselves  as  formed  for  action. 
They  are  chosen  soldiers,  bound 
to  exert  themselves  continually  in 
the  service  of  God,  and  of  the 
pope,  his  vicar  on  earth.  What- 
ever tends  to  instruct  the  ignorant, 
whatever  can  be  of  use  to  reclaim 
or  oppose  the  enemies  of  the  holy 
see,  is  their  proper  object.  That 
they  may  have  full  leisure  for  this 
active  service,  they  are  totally  ex- 
empted from  those  functions,  the 
performance  of  which  is  the  chief 
business  of  other  monks.  They  ap- 
pear in  no  processions  j  they  prac- 
tise no  rigorous  austerities ;  they 
do  not  consume  one  half  of  their 
time  in  the  repetition  of  tedious 
offices ;  but  they  are  required  to 
attend  to  all  the  transactions  of 
the  world  on  account  of  the  in- 
fluence which  these  may  have  upon 


religion  :  they  are  directed  to  study 
the  dispositions  of  persons  in  high 
rank,  and  to  cultivate  their  friend- 
ship*, and,  by  the  very  constitution 
and  genius  of  the  order,  a  spirit  of 
action  and  intrigue  is  infused  into 
all  its  members. 

3.  Jesuits.,  peculiarities  of  their 
policy  and  government. — Other  or- 
ders are  to  be  considered  as  vo- 
luntary associations,  in  which, 
whatever  affects  the  whole  body, 
is  regulated  by  the  common  suf- 
frage of  all  its  members.  But 
Loyola,  full  of  the  ideas  of  im- 
plicit obedience,  which  he  had  de- 
rived from  his  military  profession, 
appointed  that  the  government  of 
his  order  should  be  purely  monar- 
chical. A  general  chosen  for  life, 
by  deputies  from  the  several  pro- 
vinces, possessed  power  that  v/as 
supreme  and  independent,  extend- 
ing to  every  person  and  to  every 
case.  To  his  commands  they  were 
required  to  yield  not  only  outw^ard 
obedience,  but  to  resign  up  to  him 
the  inclinations  of  their  own  wills, 
and  the  sentiments  of  their  own 
understandings.  Such  a  singular 
form  of  policy  could  not  fail  to 
impress  its  character  on  all  the 
members  of  the  order,  and  to  give 
a  peculiar  force  to  all  its  opera- 
tions. There  has  not  been,  perhaps, 
in  the  annals  of  mankind  any  ex- 
ample of  such  a  perfect  despotism 
exercised  not  over  monks  shut  up 
in  the  cells  of  a  convent,  but  over 
men  dispersed  among  all  the  na- 
tions of  the  earth.  As  the  consti- 
tutions of  the  order  vest  in  the 
general  such  absolute  dominion 
over  all  its  members,  they  care- 
fully provide  for  his  being  per- 
fectly informed  with  respect  to  the 


r  F^'  ^ 


JES 


character  and  abilities  of  his  sub- 
jects. Every  novice  who  offers 
himself  as  a  candidate  for  enter- 
ing into  the  order  is  obliged  to 
manifest  his  conscience  to  the  su- 
perioTj  or  a  person  appointed  by 
him  ;  and  is  required  to  confess 
not  only  his  sins  and  defects,  but 
to  discover  the  inclinations,  the 
-passions,  and  the  bent  of  his  soul. 
This  manifestation  must  be  renew- 
ed every  six  months.  Each  mem- 
ber is  directed  to  observe  the  words 
gnd  actions  of  the  novices,  and 
are  bound  to  disclose  every  thing  of 
importance  concerning  them  to  the 
superior.  In  order  that  this  scru- 
tiny into  their  character  may  be 
as  com.plete  as  possible,  a  long  no- 
vitiate must  expire,  during  which 
they  pass  through  the  several  gra- 
dations of  rank  in  the  society ; 
and  they  must  have  attained  the 
full  age  of  thirty-three  years  be- 
fore they  can  be  admitted  to  take 
the  final  vows  by  which  they  be- 
come professed  members.  By  these 
various  methods,  the  superiors  un- 
der whose  imm.ediate  inspection 
the  novices  are  placed,  acquire  a 
thorough  knowledge  of  their  dis- 
positions and  talents ;  and  the  ge- 
neral, by  examining  the  registers 
kept  for  this  purpose,  is  enabled  to 
choose  the  instruments  v/hich  his 
absolute  power  can  employ  in  any 
service  for  which  he  thinks  meet 
to  destine  them. 

4.  Jesuits,  progress  of  the  poiu- 
jr  and  hijiuence  of. — As  it  was  the 
professed  intention  of  this  order  to 
-labour  with  unwearied  zeal  in 
promoting  the  salvation  of  men, 
this  engaged  them,  of  .course,  in 
many  active  functions.  From 
jheir  first  institution_,  they  consi- 


dered the  education  of  youth  as 
their  peculiar  province  :  they  aim- 
ed at  being  spiritual  guides  and 
confessors ;  they  preached  fre- 
quently, in  order  to  instruct  the 
people;  they  set  out  as  missiona- 
ries to  convert  unbelieving  nati- 
ons. Before  the  expiration  of  the 
sixteenth  century,  they  had  ob- 
tained the  chief  direction  of  the 
education  of  youth  in  every  Ca- 
tholic country  in  Europe.  They- 
had  become  the  confessors  of  al- 
most all  its  monarchs  ;  a  function 
of  no  small  importance  in  any 
reign,  but,  under  a  weak  prince, 
superior  to  that  of  minister.  They 
were  the  spiritual  guides  of  almost 
every  person  eminent  for  rank  or 
power  j  they  possessed  the  highest 
degree  of  confidence  and  interest 
with  the  papal  court,  as  the  most 
zealous  and  able  champions  for 
its  authority;  they  possessed,  at  dif- 
ferent periods,  the  direction  of  the 
most  considerable  courts  in  Eu- 
rope;  they  mingled  in  all  aiFairs, 
and  took  part  in  every  intrigue 
and  revolution.  But  while  they 
thus  advanced  in  power,  they  in- 
creased also  in  wealth  :  various 
expedients  were  devised  for  elud- 
ing the  obligation  of  the  vow  of 
poverty.  Besides  the  sources  of 
wealth  common  to  all  the  regular 
clergy,  the  Jesuits  possessed  one 
which  was  peculiar  to  themselves. 
Under  the  pretext  of  promoting 
the  success  of  their  missions,  and 
of  facilitating  the  support  of  their 
missionaries,  they  obtained  a  spe- 
cial licence  from  the  court  of 
Rome  to  trade  with  the  nations 
which  they  laboured  to  convert : 
in  consequence  of  this,  they  en- 
gaged in  an  extensive  and  lucra- 


JES 


375 


tive  commerce,  both  in  the  East 
and  West  Indies ;  they  opened 
warehouses  in  different  parts  of 
Europe,  in  which  they  vended  their 
commodities.  Not  satisfiea  with 
trade  alone,  they  imitated  the  ex- 
ample of  other  commercial  socie- 
ties, and  aimed  at  obtaining  set- 
tlements. They  acquired  posses- 
sion, accordingly,  of  the  large  and 
fertile  province  of  Paraguay,  which 
stretches  across  the  southern  con- 
tinent of  America,  from  the  bot- 
tom of  the  mountains  of  Potosi  to 
the  confines  of  the  Spanish  and 
Portuguese  settlements  on  the 
banks  of  the  river  De  la  Plata. 
Here,  indeed,  it  must  be  confessed, 
they  were  of  service  :  they  found 
the  inhabitants  in  a  state  little  dif- 
ferent from  that  which  takes  place 
among  men  when  they  first  begin 
to  unite  together  ;  strangers  to  the 
arts ;  subsisting  precariously  by 
hunting  or  fishing  ;  and  hardly  ac- 
quainted with  the  first  principles 
of  subordination  and  government. 
The  Jesuits  set  themselves  to  in- 
struct and  civilize  these  savages  : 
they  taught  them  to  cultivate  the 
ground,  build  houses,  and  brought 
them  to  live  together  in  villages, 
&c.  They  made  them  taste  the 
SM'eets  of  society,  and  trained 
them  to  arts  and  manufactures. 
Such  was  their  power  over  them, 
that  a  few  Jesuits  presided  over 
some  hundred  thousand  Indians. 
But  even  in  this  meritorious  effort 
of  the  Jesuits  for  the  good  of  man- 
kind, the  genius  and  spirit  of  their 
order  are  discernible  :  they  plainly 
aimed  at  establishing  in  Paraguay 
an  independent  empire,  subject  to 
the  society  alone,  and  which,  by 
the  superior  excellence  of  its  con- 


stitution and  police,  could  scarce- 
ly have  failed  to  extend  its  domi- 
nion over  all  the  southern  conti- 
nent of  America.  With  this  view, 
in  order  to  prevent  the  Spaniards 
or  Portuguese  in  the  adjacent  set- 
tlements from  acquiring  any  dan- 
gerous influence  over  the  people 
within  the  limits  of  the  province 
subject  to  the  society,  the  Jes»its 
endeavoured  to  inspire  the  Indians 
with  hatred  and  contempt  of  these 
nations :  they  cut  oiF  all  inter- 
course between  their  subjects  and 
the  Spanish  or  Portuguese  settle- 
ments. When  they  v/ere  obliged 
to  admit  any  person  in  a  public 
character  from  the  neighbouring 
governments,  they  did  not  permit 
him  to  have  any  conversation  with 
their  subjects  ;  and  no  Indian  was 
allowed  even  to  enter  the  house 
where  these  strangers  resided,  un- 
less in  the  presence  of  a  Jesuit. 
In  order  to  render  any  communi- 
cation between  them  as  difficult 
as  possible,  they  industriously 
avoided  giving  the  Indians  any 
knowledge  of  the  Spanish  or  of 
any  other  European  language ; 
but  encouraged  the  different  tribes 
which  they  had  civilized  to  ac- 
quire a  certain  dialect  of  the  In- 
i  dian  tongue,  and  laboured  to 
make  that  the  universal  language 
throughout  their  dominions.  As 
all  these  precautions,  without  mi- 
litary force,  would  have  been  in- 
sufiicient  to  have  rendered  their 
empire  secure  and  permanent, 
they  instructed  their  subjects  in 
the  European  art  of  war,  and 
formed  them  into  bodies  com- 
pletely armed,  and  well  disci- 
plined. 

3.     jestiifSi    perr.'c'ious    cfferi    of 


JES 


76 


JES 


this  order  in  civil  society. — Though 
it  must  be  confessed  that  the  Jesu- 
its cultivated  the  study  of  ancient 
literature,  and  contributed  much 
towards  the  progress  of  polite 
learning  j  though  they  have  pro- 
duced eminent  masters  in  every 
branch  of  science,  and  can  boast 
of  a  number  of  ingenious  authors  ; 
yet,  unhappily 'for  mankind,  their 
vast  influence  has  been  often  ex- 
erted v/ith  the  most  fatal  effects. 
Such  >vas  the  tendency  of  that 
discipline  observed  by  the  society 
in  forming  its  members,  and  such 
the  fundamental  maxims  in  its 
constitution,  that  every  Jesuit  was 
taught  to  regard  the  interest  of  the 
order  as  the  capital  object  to  which 
every  consideration  was  to  be  sa- 
crificed. As  the  prosperity  of  the 
order  was  intimately  connected 
with  the  preservation  of  the  papal 
authority,  the  Jesuits,  influenced 
by  the  same  principle  of  attach- 
ment to  the  interest  of  their  soci- 
ety, have  been  the  most  zealous 
patrons  of  those  doctrines  which 
tend  to  exalt  ecclesiastical  power 
on  the  ruins  of  civil  government. 
They  have  attributed  to  the  court 
of  Rome  a  jurisdiction  as  extensive 
and  absolute  as  was  claimed  by 
the  mo-t  presumptuous  pontiffs  in 
the  dark  ages.  They  have  con- 
tended for  the  entire  independence 
of  ecclesiastics  on  the  civil  magis- 
trates. They  have  published  such 
tenets  concerning  the  duty  of  op- 
posing princes  who  were  enemies 
of  the  Catholic  faith,  as  counte- 
nanced the  most  atrocious  crimes, 
and  tended  to  dissolve  all  the  ties 
which  connect  subjects  with  their 
rulers.  As  the  order  derived  both 
reputation  and  authority  from  the 


zeal  with  which  it  stood  forth  In 
defence  of  the  Romish  church 
against  the  attacks  of  the  reform- 
ers, its  members,  proud  of  this  dis- 
tinction, have  considered  it  as  their 
peculiar  function  to  combat  the 
opinions,  and  to  check  the  progress 
of  the  Protestants.  They  have 
made  use  of  every  art,  and  have 
employed  every  weapon  against 
them.  They  have  set  themselves 
.in  opposition  to  every  gentle  or 
1  tolerating  measure  in  their  favour. 
They  have  incessantly  stirred  up 
against  them  all  the  rage  of  eccle- 
siastical and  civil  persecution. 
Whoever  recollects  the  events 
which  have  happened  in  Europe 
during  two  centuries,  will  find 
that  the  Jesuits  may  justly  be  con- 
sidered as  responsible  for  most  of 
the  pernicious  effects  arising  from 
that  corrupt  and  dangerous  casu- 
istry, from  those  extravagant  te- 
nets concerning  ecclesiastical  pow- 
er, and  from  that  intolerant  spirit, 
which  have  been  the  disgrace  of 
the  church  of  Rome  throughout 
that  period,  and  which  have 
brought  so  many  calamities  upon 
society. 

6.  Jesuits^  donvtifall  of  in  Eti" 
rope. — Such  were  the  laws,  the 
policy,  and  the  genius  of  this 
formidable  order  ;  of  v/hich,  how- 
ever, a  perfect  knowledge  has  only 
been  attainable  of  late.  Europe 
had  observed,  for  two  centuries, 
the  ambition  and  power  of  the  or- 
der \  but  while  it  felt  many  fatal 
effects  of  these,  it  could  not  fully 
discern  the  causes  to  which  they 
were  to  be  imputed.  .  It  was  un- 
acquainted with  many  of  the  sin- 
gular regulations  in  the  political 
constitution  or  government  of  the 


JES 


377 


JES 


Jesuits,  which  formed  the  enter- 
prising spirit  of  intrigue  that  dis- 
tinguished its  members,  and  ele- 
vated the  body  itself  to  such  a 
height  of  power.  It  was  a  funda- 
mental maxim  with  the  Jesuits, 
from  their  first  institution,  not  to 
publish  the  rules  of  their  order : 
these  they  kept  concealed  as  an 
impenetrable  mystery.  They  never 
communicated  them  to  strangers, 
nor  even  to  the  greater  part  of 
their  own  members :  they  refused 
to  produce  them  when  required 
by  courts  of  justice  ;  and,  by  a 
strange  solecism  in  policy,  the  civil 
power  in  different  countries  au- 
thorized or  connived  at  the  esta- 
blishment of  an  order  of  men, 
whose  constitution  and  laws  were 
concealed  with  a  solicitude  which 
alone  was  a  good  reason  for  hav- 
ing excluded  them.  During  the 
prosecutions  that  have  been  car- 
ried on  against  them  in  Portugal 
and  France,  the  Jesuits  have  been 
so  inconsiderate  as  to  produce  the 
myterious  volumes  of  their  insti- 
tute. By  the  aid  of  these  authen- 
tic records,  the  principles  of  their 
government  may  be  delineated,  and 
the  sources  of  their  power  inves- 
tigated with  a  degree  of  certainty 
and  precision,  which,  previous 
to  that  event,  it  was  impossible  to 
attain. 

The  pernicious  effects  of  the 
spirit  and  constitution  of  this  or- 
der rendered  it  early  obnoxious 
to  some  of  the  principal  powers 
in  Europe,  and  gradually  brought 
on  its  downfa!.  There  is  a  re- 
markable passage  in  a  sermon 
preached  at  Dublin  by  arch- 
bishop Brown,  so  long  ago  as  the 
year    1551,    and    M'hich    may   be 

Vol.  T.  3  C 


considered  almost  as  prophetic. 
It  is  as  follows  :  **  But  there  are 
"  a  new  fraternity  of  late  sprung 
"  up,  who  call  themselves  Jesu- 
**  its,  which  will  deceive  many, 
"  much  after  the  Scribes  and 
"  Pharisees'  manner.  Amongst 
"  the  Jews  they  shall  strive  to 
"  abolish  the  truth,  and  shall  com© 
"  very  near  to  do  it.  For  these 
"  sorts  will  turn  themselves  into 
*'  several  forms ;  with  the  hea- 
"  thens,  a  heathenist  j  with  the 
"  atheists,  an  atheist ;  with  the 
"  Jews,  a  Jew ;  with  the  reform- 
"  ers,  a  reformade  purposely  to 
"  know  your  intentions,  your 
"  minds,  your  hearts,  and  your 
"  inclinations,  and  thereby  bring 
"  you,  at  last,  to  be  like  the  fool 
"  that  said  in  his  heart  there  was 
"  no  God.  These  shall  be  spread 
"  over  the  whole  world,  shall  be 
"  admitted  into  the  councils  of 
"  princes,  and  they  never  the 
"  wiser ;  charming  of  them,  yea, 
"  making  your  princes  reveal 
"  their  hearts,  and  the  secrets 
"  therein,  and  yet  they  not  pcr- 
"  ceive  it ;  which  will  happen 
"  from  falling  from  the  law  of 
"  God,  by  neglect  of  fulfilling  the 
<*  law  of  God,  and  by  winking  at 
"  their  sins  ;  yet,  in  the  end,  God, 
"  to  justify  his  law,  shall  sudden- 
"  ly  cut  off  this  society,  even  by 
"  the  hands  of  those  who  have 
"  most  succoured  them,  and  made 
"  use  of  them ;  so  that  at  the  end 
"  they  shall  become  odious  to  all 
"  nations.  They  shall  be  worse 
"  than  Jews,  having  no  resting- 
"  place  upon  earth  ;  and  thcnshal*. 
"  a  Jew  have  more  favour  than  a 
"  Jesuit."  This  singular  passage 
seems  to  be  accomplished      The 


JES 


378 


JES 


€mperor  Charles  V  saw  it  expedi- 
ent to  check  their  progress  in  his 
dominions :  they  were  expelled 
England  by  proclamation  2  James 
I,  in  1004;  Venice  in  1606  j  Por- 
tugal in  1759;  France  in  1764; 
Spain  and  Sicily  in  1 767 ;  and  to- 
tally suppressed  and  abolished  by 
pope  Clement  XIV,  in  1 77o.  Enc. 
Brit. ;  Moskeitn's  Ecc.  Hist.  ;  Har- 
leian  Misc^  vol.  v,  p.  566 ; 
Brcii^hton's  Diet. 

JESUS  CHRIST,  the  Lord  and 
Saviour  of  mankind.     He  is  call- 
ed   Christ  (anointed),  because  he 
is  anointed,  furnished,  and  sent  by 
God    to    execute   his    mediatorial 
office ;    and    Jesus    (Saviour),  be- 
cause he  came  to   save  his  people 
from  their  sins.     For  an  account 
of  his  nativity,  offices,  death,  re- 
surrection, &c.,  the  reader  is  re- 
ferred to  those  articles  in  this  vpork. 
We.  shall  here  more  particularly 
consider   his    divinity,    humanity, 
and    character.       The    divinitM  .of 
Jesus  Christ  seems  "evident,  if  we 
consider,   1.     The  language  of  the 
New    Testament^      and  compare   it 
luith  the  state  of  the  Pagan  tvorld 
at    the   time   of   its  publication.     If 
Jesus    Christ  were  not   God,  the 
writers  of  the  New  Testament  dis- 
covered  great    injudiciousness    in 
the   choice   of    their    words,    and 
adopted  a  very  incautious  and  dan- 
gerous style.  The  whole  world,  ex- 
cept the  small  kingdom  of  Judea, 
worshipped  idols    at  the   time  ofj 
Jesus  Christ's  appearance.     Jesus  \ 
Christ ;  the  evangelists,  Vi^ho  wrote  i 
his  history  ;  and  the  apostles,  who  j 
wrote  epistles  to  vaiious  classes  ofj 
men,  proposed  to  destroy  idolatry,  | 
and  to  establish  the  worship  of  one  i 
only  living  and  true  God.     To  ef-  i 


feet  this  purpose,  it  was  absolutely 
necessary  for  these  founders  of 
Christianity  to  avoid  confusion  and 
obscurity  of  language,  and  to  ex- 
press their  ideas  in  a  cool  and 
cautious  style.  The  least  expression 
that  would  tend  to  deify  a  crea- 
ture, or  countenance  idolatry, 
would  have  been  a  source  of  the 
greatest  error.  Hence  Paul  and 
Barnabas  rent  their  clothes  at  the 
very  idea  of  the  multitude's  coti- 
founding  the  creature  with  the 
Creator,  Acts  xiv.  The  writers  of 
the  New  Testament  knew  that  in 
speaking  of  Jesus  Christ  extraor- 
dinary caution  was  necessary  ;  yet, 
when  we  take  up  the  New  Tes- 
tament, we  find  such  expressions 
as  these :  "  The  word  was  God, 
John  i,  1.  God  w^as  manifest  In 
the  flesh,  1st  Tim.  iii,  16.  God  with 
us,  Matt,  i,  23.  The  Jews  cru- 
cified the  Lord  of  glory,  1st  Cor. 
ii,  8.  Jesus  Christ  is  Lord  of  all, 
Acts  X,  36.  Christ  is  over  all ; 
God  blessed  for  ever,  Rom.  ix,  5." 
These  are  a  few  of  many  propo- 
sitions, which  the  New  Testament 
writers  lay  down  relative  to  Jesus 
Christ.  If  the  writers  intended  to 
affirm  the  divinity  of  Jesus  Christ, 
these  are  words  of  truth  and  so- 
berness ;  if  not,  the  language  is 
incautious  and  unwarrantable  ;  and 
to  address  it  to  men  prone  to  idol- 
atry, for  the  purpose  of  destroy- 
ing idolatry,  is  a  strong  presump- 
tion against  their  inspiration.  It 
is  remarkable,  also,  that  the  richest 
words  in  the  Greek  language  are 
made  use  of  to  describe  Jesus 
Christ.  This  language,  which  is 
very  copious,  would  have  afforded 
lower  terms  to  express  an  inferior 
nature;  but  it  could  have  afforded 


JE 


379 


JES 


none  higher  to  express  the  nature 
of  the  S  uprerae  God.  It  is  worthy 
of  observation,  too,  that  these  wri- 
ters addressed  their  writings  not  to 
philosophers  and  scholars,  but  to 
the  common  people,  and  conse- 
quently used  words  in  their  plain 
popular  signification.  The  com- 
mon people,  it  seems,  understood 
the  words  in  our  sense  of  them ; 
for  in  the  Dioclesian  persecution, 
when  the  Roman  soldiers  burnt  a 
Phrygian  city  inhabited  by  Chris- 
tians, men,  women,  and  children, 
submitted  to  their  fate,  calling  up- 
on    Christy     THE     GOD     OVER    ALT.. 

— 2.  Compare  the  style  of  the  Neiv 
Testamenixviththe  state  of  they exvs 
at  the  time  of  its  publication.  In 
the  time  of  Jesus  Christ,  the  Jews 
were  z,eaIous  defenders  of  the  unity 
of  God,  and  of  that  idea  of  his 
perfections  which  their  scriptures 
excited.  Jesus  Christ  and  his 
apostles  professed  the  highest  re- 
gard for  the  Jewish  scriptures ; 
yet  the  writers  of  the  New  Testa- 
ment described  Jesus  Christ  by  the 
very  names  and  titles  by  which 
the  writers  of  the  Old  Testament 
had  described  the  Supreme  God. 
Compare  Exod.  iii,  14,  with  Johni 
viii,  58.  Is.  xliv,  6,  with  Rev.  i, 
11.  ir.  Deut.  X,  17,  with  Rev.  | 
xvii,  14.  Ps.  xxiv,  10,  with  lst| 
Cor.  ii,  8.  Hos.  i,  7,  with  Luke  ii,  ] 
11.  Dan.  v,  23,  with  1st  Cor.  xv, 
47.  1st  Chron.  xxix,  11,  with  Col. 
ii,  10.  If  they  who  described  Je- 
sus Christ  to  the  Jews  by  these 
sacred  names  and  titles  intended 
to  convey  an  idea  of  his  deity,  the 
description  is  just  and  the  applica- 
tion safe  •,  but  if  they  intended  to 
describe  a  mere  man,  they  were 
surely  of  all  men  the  most  pre- 


posterous. They  chose  a  method 
of  recommending  Jesus  to  the 
Jews  the  most  likely  to  alarm 
and  enrage  them.  Whatever  they 
meant,  the  Jews  understood  them 
in  our  sense,  and  took  Jesus  for  a 
blasphemer,  John  x,  S2. — 3.  Com- 
pare the  perfections  which  are  as- 
crihedto  Jesus  Christ  in  the  scrip- 
tures, zuith  those  xuhich  are  ascribed 
to  God.  Jesus  Christ  declares,  «'  All 
things  that  tlie  Father  hath  are 
mine,"  John  xvi,  15 :  a  very  danger- 
ous proposition,  if  he  were  not  God. 
The  writers  of  Revelation  ascribe 
to  him  the  same  perfections  which 
they  ascribe  to  God,  Compare  Jer. 
X,  10,  with  Is.  ix,  6.  Exod.  xv, 
18,  with  Heb.  i,  8.  Jer.  xxxii,  19, 
with  Is.  ix,  6.  Ps.  cii,  24,  27,  with 
Heb.  xiii,  8.  Jer.  xxiii,  24,  with 
Eph.  i,  20,  23.  1st  Sam.  ii,  5, 
with  John  xiv,  30.  If  Jesus 
Christ  be  God,  the  ascription  of 
the  perfections  of  God  to  him  is 
proper ;  if  he  be  not,  the  apostles 
are  chargeable  with  weakness  or 
wickedness,  and  either  would  de- 
stroy their  claim  of  inspiration. — 
4.  Consider  the  -works  that  are 
ascribed  to  fesus  Christy  and  com,- 
pare  them  -with  the  claims  of  fe- 
hovah.  Is  creation  a  work  of  God  ? 
"  By  Jesus  Christ  were  all  things 
created,"  Col.  i,  16.  Is  preser- 
vation a  work  of  God  ?  "  Jesus 
Christ  upholds  all  things  by  the 
word  of  his  power,"  Heb.  i,  3.  Is 
the  mission  of  the  prophets  a  work 
of  God  ?  Jesus  Christ  is  the  Lord 
God  of  the  holy  prophets  ;  and  it 
was  the  Spirit  of  Christ  which 
testified  to  them  beforehand  the 
sufferings  of  Christ,  and  the  glory 
that  should  follow,  Neh.  ix,  3C. 
Rev.  xxii,  6,   16.   1st  Pet.  i,  11. 


JES 


380 


JES 


is  the  salvation  of  sinners  a  work  \\ 
of  God  ?  Christ  is  the  Saviour  of  li 
all  that  believe,  John  iv,  42.  Heb. 
y.  9.  Is  the  forgiveness  of  sin  a 
work  of  God  ?  The  Son  of  Man 
hath  power  to  forgive  sins,  Matt. 
ix,  6.  The  same  might  be  said 
of  the  illumination  of  the  mind  ; 
the  sanctification  of  the  heart ;  the 
resurrection  of  the  dead  j  the  judg- 
ing of  the  world  ;  the  glorification 
of  the  righteous  ;  the  eternal  pu- 
nishment of  the  wicked  ;  all  which 
works,  in  one  part  of  scripture,  are 
ascribed  to  God  -,  and  all  which,  in 
another  part  of  scripture,  are 
ascribed  to  Jesus  Christ.  Now,  if 
Jesus  Christ  be  not  God,  into  what 
contradictions  thege  writers  must 
fall  !  They  contradict  one  ano- 
ther; thev  contradict  themselves. 
Either  Jesus  Christ  is  God,  or  their 
conduct  is  unaccountable. — 5.  Cofi- 
sider  that  divine  worship  ivhich  the 
scriptures  claim  for  Jesus  Christ. 
It  is  a  command  of  God,  "  Thou 
shalt  worship  the  Lord  thy  God, 
and  him  only  shalt  thou  serve," 
Matt,  iv,  20.  Yet  the  scriptures 
command  "  all  the  angels  of  God 
to  worship  Christ,"  Heb.  i,  6. 
Twenty  times,  in  the  New  Testa- 
ment, grace,  mercy,  and  peace,  are 
implored  of  Christ,  together  with 
the  Father.  Baptism  is  an  act  of 
worship  performed  in  his  name. 
Matt,  xxviii.  19.  Swearing  is  an 
act  of  worship  ;  a  solemn  appeal 
in  important  cases  to  the  omnisci- 
ent Gcd  J  and  this  appeal  is  made 
to  Christ,  Rom.  ix,  1.  The  com- 
mitting of  the  soul  to  God  at  death 
is  a  sacred  act  of  worship  :  in  the 
performance  of  this  act.  Stephen 
died,  saying,  Lord  Jesus,  receive 
my  spirit,  Actsvii,  59.  The  Vvhole 


host  of  heaven  worship  him  that 
sitteth  upon  the  throne,  and  the 
lamb,  for  ever  and  ever.  Rev.  v, 
13,  14. — 6.  Observe  the  application 
of  Old  Testament  passages  zvhich 
belong  to  fehovah.^  to  Jesus  in  the 
Nexv  Testainerit^  and  try  whether 
you  can  acquit  the  xvriters  of  the 
Nexu  Testament  of  nnsreprese7ita- 
tion.,  on  supposition  that  fesus  is 
not  God.  St.  Paul  says,  "  We  shall 
all  stand  before  the  judgment  seat 
of  Christ."  That  we  shall  all  be 
judged,  we  allow ;  but  how  do 
you  prove  that  Christ  shall  be  our 
Judge  ?  Because,  adds  the  apostle, 
it  is  written,  "  As  I  live,  saith  the 
Lord,  every  knee  shall  bow  to  me, 
and  every  tongue  shall  confess  to 
God,"  Rom.  xiv,  10,  11,  with  Is. 
xlv,  20,  &c.  What  sort  of  rea- 
soning is  this  ?  How  does  this  ap- 
ply to  Christ,  if  Christ  be  not  God  ? 
And  how  dare  a  man  quote  one  of 
the  most  guarded  passages  in  the 
Old  Testament  for  such  a  purpose  ? 
John  the  Baptist  is  he  who  was 
spoken  of  by  the  prophet  Esaias, 
saying,  prepare  ye  the  way.  Matt, 
iii,  1,  3.  Isaiah  saith.  Prepare 
ye  the  way  of  the  lord  j  make 
straight  a  highway  for  our  god. 
Is.  xl,  3,  &c.  But  what  has  John 
the  Baptist  to  do  with  all  this 
description  if  Jesus  Christ  be  only 
a  m.essenger  of  Jehovah,  and  not 
Jehovah  himself  .?  for  Isaiah  saith. 
Prepare  ye  the  way  of  Jehovah. 
Compare  also  Zech.  xii,  10,  with 
John  xix,  34,  37.  Is.  vi,  with  John 
xii,  39.  Is.  viii,  13,  14,  with  1st 
Pet.  ii,  8.  Allow  Jesus  Christ  to 
be  God,  and  all  these  applications 
are  proper.  If  we  deny  it,  the 
New  Testament,  v/e  must  own,  is 
one   of    the    most   unaccountable 


J  E  S 


'  O  1 
>6L 


J  !■:  s 


compositions  in  the  world,  calcu- 
lated to  make  easy  things  hard  to 
be  understood. — 7.  Examine  ivhe- 
ther  events  have  justified  that  no- 
tion of  christia/iity  ivhich  the  pro- 
phets gave  their  countrymen  of  it, 
if  Jesu?>  Christ  be  not  God.  The  j 
calling  of  the  Gentiles  from  thei 
worship  of  idols  to  the  worship  of 
the  one  living  and  true  God,  isi 
one  event,  which,  the  prophets  said,  j 
the  coming  of  the  Messiah  should 
bring  to  pass.  If  Jesus  Christ  be 
God,  the  event  answers  the  pro- 
phecy ;  if  not,  the  event  is  not 
come  to  pass,  for  Christians  in  ge- 
neral worship  Jesus,  which  is  idol- 
atry, if  he  be  not  God,  ii,  iii,  and 
iv,  of  Isaiah.  Zeph.  ii,  11.  Zech. 
xiv,  9.  The  primitive  Christians 
certainly  worshipped  Him  as  God.  j 
Pliny,  who  was  appointed  go- 
vernor of  the  province  of  Bythynia 
by  the  emperor  Trajan,  in  the 
year  103,  examined  and  punished 
several  Christians  for  their  non- 
conformity to  the  established  reli- 
gion of  the  empire.  In  a  letter  to 
the  emperor,  giving  an  account  of 
his  conduct,  he  declares,  "  they 
affirmed  the  whole  of  their  guilt, 
or  their  error,  was,  that  they  met 
on  a  certain  stated  day,  before  it 
was  light,  and  addressed  them- 
selves in  a  form  of  prayer  to  Christ 
as  to  some  God."  Thus  Pliny 
meant  to  infoi-m  the  emperor  that 
Christians  ivorshipped  Christ.  Justin 
Martyr,  who  lived  about  150 
years  after  Christ,  asserts,  that  the 
Christians  worshipped  the  Father, 
the  Son,  and  the  Spirit.  Besides 
his  testimony,  there  are  number- 
less passages  in  the  fathers  that 
attest  the  truth  in  question  ;  espe- 
cially  in  Tcrtiillian,    Hyppolitus, 


Felix,  &c.  Mahomet,  who  lived 
in  the  sixth  century,  considers 
Christians  in  the  light  of  infidels 
and  idolaters  throughout  the  Ko- 
ran ;  and,  indeed,  had  not  Chris- 
tians worshipped  Christ,  he  could 
have  had  no  shadow  of  a  pretence  to 
reform  their  religion,  and  to  bring 
them  back  to  the  worship  of  one 
God.  That  the  far  greater  part  of 
CIiri.-itians  have  continued  to  wor- 
ship Jesus,  will  not  be  doubted  \ 
now,  if  Christ  be  not  God,  then 
the  Christians  have  been  guilty  of 
idolatry  j  and  if  they  have  been 
guilty  of  idolatry,  then  it  must  ap- 
pear remarkable  that  the  apostles, 
who  foretold  the  corruptions  of 
Christianity,  2d  Tim.  iii,  should 
never  have  foreseen  or  warned 
us  against  worshipping  Christ.  In 
no  part  of  the  scripture  is  there 
the  least  intimation  of  Christians 
falling  into  idolatry  in  this  respect. 
Surely  if  this  had  been  an  error 
which  was  so  universally  to  pre- 
vail, those  scriptures  which  are 
able  to  make  us  wise  unto  salva- 
tion would  have  left  us  warning 
on  so  important  a  topic.  Lastly, 
consider  what  fiumberless  passages 
of  scripture  have  no  sense^  or  a  very 
absurd  one^  if  Jesus  Christ  be  a  mere 
man.  See  Rom.  i,  3.  1st  Tim.  iii, 
16.  John  xiv,  9.  John  xvii,  5. 
Phil,  ii,  6.  Ps.  ex.  1,  4.  1st  Tim. 
i,  2.  Acts  xxii,  12.  and  Acts  ix,  17. 
But  though  Jesus  Christ  be  God, 
yet  for  our  sakes,  and  for  our  sal- 
vation, he  took  upon  him  human 
nature  ;  this  is  therefore  called  his 
humanity.  Marcion,  Appelles,  Va~ 
lentinus,  and  many  other  heretics, 
denied  Christ's  humanity,  as  some 
have  done  since.  But  that  Christ 
had  a  true  human  body,  and  net 


JE  S 


!82 


JES 


a  mere  human  shape,  or  a  body 
that  was  not  real  flesh,  is  very  evi- 
dent from  the  sacred  scriptures.  Is. 
vii,  12.  Lujce  xxiv,  39.  Heb.  ii, 
14.  Luke  i,  42.  Phil,  ii,  7,  8.  John 
i,  14.  Besides,  he  ate,  drank,  slept, 
walked,  worked,  and  was  weary. 
He  groaned,  bled,  and  died  upon 
the  cross.     It  was  necessary  that 


ject  for  meditation,  exhibits  to  us 
an  example  of  the  most  perfect 
and  delightful  kind. 

*'  Here,"  as  an  elegant  writer 
observes,  "  every  grace  that  can 
recommend'  religion,  and  every 
virtue  that  can  adorn  humanity, 
are  so  blended,  as  to  excite  our 
admiration,   and  engage  our  lovcj 


he  should  thus  be  human,  in  order  i|  In  abstaining  from  licentious  plea- 
to  fulfil  the  Divine  designs  and  j  sures,  he  was  equally  free  from 
prophecies  respecting  the  shedding  |  ostentatious  singularity  and  churl- 
of  his  blood  for  our  salvation,  Ij  ish  sullenne^s.  When  he  com- 
which  could  not  have  been  done,  [  plied  with  the  established  ceremo- 
had  he  not  possessed  a  real  body.  ;  nies  of  his  countrymen,  that  com- 
It  is  also  as  evident  that  he  as-  i;  pliance  was  not  accompanied  by 
sumed  our  whole  nature,  soul  as  |  any  marks  of  bigotry  or  super- 
well  as  body.     If  he  had  not,   he  |j  stition  :    when    he    opposed    their 


could  not  have  been  capable  of 
that  sore  amazement  and  sorrow 
unto  death,  and  all  those  other 
acts  of  grieving,  feeling,  rejoicing, 
&c.,  ascribed  to  him.  It  was  not, 
however,  our  sinful  nature  he  as- 
sumed, but  the  likeness  of  it,  Rom. 
viii,  2.  for  he  was  without  sin, 
and  did  no  iniquity.  His  human 
nature  must  not  be  confounded 
with  his  divine  ;  for  though  there 
be  an  union  of  natures  in  Christ, 
yet  there  is  not  a  mixture  or  con- 
fusion of  them  or  their  properties. 
His  humanity  is  not  changed  into 
his  deity,  nor  his  deity  into  hu- 
manity ;  but  the  two  natures  are 
distinct  in  one  person.  Kov/  this 
union  exists  is  above  our  compre- 
hension ;  and,  indeed,  if  we  can- 
not explain  how  cur  own  bodies 
and  souls  are  united,  it:  is  not  to  be 
supposed  we  can  explain  this  asto- 
nishing mystery  of  God  manifest 
in  the  flesh.     See  Mediator. 

We  now  proceed  to"  the  charac- 
ter of  Jesus  Christ,  v/hich,  v/hile 
it  aitords  us  the  most  pleasing  sub- 


rooted  prepossessions,  his  opposi- 
tion was  perfectly  exempt  from 
the  captious  petulance  of  a  con- 
troversialist, and  the  undistinguish- 
ing  zeal  of  an  innovator.  His 
courage  was  active  in  encounter- 
ing the  dangers  to  which  he  was 
exposed,  and  passive  under  the 
aggravated  calamities  which  the 
malice  of  his  foes  heaped  upon 
him  :  his  fortitude  was  remote 
from  every  appearance  of  rashness, 
and  his  patience  was  equally  ex- 
empt from  abject  pusillanimity : 
he  was  firm  ^vithout  obstinacy, 
and  humble  without  meanness. — 
Though  possessed  of  the  most  un- 
bounded power,  we  behold  him 
living  continually  in  a  state  of  vo- 
luntary humiliation  and  poverty  ; 
!  we  see  him  daily  exposed  to  al- 
most every  species  of  want  and 
distress  \  afflicted  without  a  com- 
forter, persecuted  without  a  pro- 
tector ;  and  wandering  about,  ac- 
cording to  his  own  pathetic  com- 
plaint, because  he  had  not  nvhere 
to  lay  his  head.     Though   regard- 


JES 


iS3 


JES 


less  of  the  pleasures  and  some- 
times destitute  of  the  comforts  of 
life,  he  never  provokes  our  disgust 
by  the  sourness  of  the  misanthrope, 
.or  our  contempt  by  the  inactivity 
of  the  recluse.  His  attention  to 
the  welfare  of  mankind  was  evi- 
denced not  only  by  his  salutary  in- 
junctions, but  by  his  readiness  to 
embrace  every  opportunity  of  re- 
lieving their  distress,  and  adminis- 
tering to  their  wants.  In  every 
period  and  circumstance  of  his 
life,  we  behold  dignity  and  ele- 
vation blended  with  love  and  pity  ; 
something,  which,  though  it  awa- 
kens our  admiration,  yet  attracts 
our  confidence.  We  see  pov/er  ; 
but  it  is  a  power  which  is  rather 
our  security  than  our  dread ;  a 
power  softened  with  tenderness, 
and  soothing  while  it  awes.  With 
all  'the  gentleness  of  a  meek  and 
lowly  mind,  we  behold  an  heroic 
firmness,  which  no  terrors  could 
shake,  and  no  opposition  could  re- 
strain. In  the  private  scenes  of 
life,  and  in  the  public  occupa- 
tions of  his  ministry  ;  whether  the 
object  of  admiration  or  ridicule 
of  love,  or  of  persecution  ;  whe- 
ther welcomed  with  hosannas,  or 
insulted  with  anathemas,  we  still 
see  him  pursuing  with  unwearied 
constancy  the  same  end,  and  pre- 
serving the  same  integrity  of  life 
and  manners."  White  s  Sermons, 
ser.  5. 

**  He  sets  an  example,"  says 
bishop  Newcome,  '=  of  the  most 
perfect  piety  to  God,  and  of  the 
most  extensive  benevolence  and 
the  most  tender  compassion  to 
men.  He  does  not  merely  exhibit 
a  life  of  strict  justice,  but  of  over- 
flowing  benignity.      His  temper- 


ance has  not  the  dark  shades  of 
austerity  ;  his  meekness  does  not 
degenerate  into  apathy  ;  his  hu- 
mility is  signal,  amidst  a  splen- 
dour of  qualities  more  than  hu- 
man J  his  fortitude  Is  eminent  and 
exemplary  in  enduring  the  most 
formidable  external  evils,  and  the 
sharpest  actual  suiFerlngs.  His  pa- 
tience is  invincible ;  his  resiraa- 
tlon  entire  and  absolute.  Truth 
and  sincerity  shine  throughout  his 
whole  conduct.  Though  of  hea- 
venly descent,  he  shev/s  obedience 
and  affection  to  his  earthly  pa- 
rents •,  he  approves,  loves,  and 
attaches  himself  to  amiable  quali- 
ties in  the  human  race  ;  he  re- 
spects authority,  religious  and.  ci- 
vil J  and  he  evidences  regard  for 
his  country,  by  promoting  Its 
most  essential  good  in  a  painful 
ministry  dedicated  to  Its  service, 
by  deploring  its  calamities,  and  by 
laying  down  his  life  for  its  bene- 
fit. Every  one  of  his  eminent  vir- 
tues Is  regulated  by  consummate 
prudence  ;  and  he  both  wins  the 
love  of  his  friends,  and  extorts  the 
ap'probation  and  wonder  of  his 
enemies.  Never  v/as  a  character  at 
the  same  time  so  commanding  and 
natural,  so  resplendent  and  pleas- 
ing, so  amiable  and  venerable. 
There  is  a  peculiar  contrast  in  It 
between  an  awful  greatness,  dig- 
nity, and  majesty,  and  the  most 
conciliating  loveliness,  tenderness, 
and  softness.  He  now  converses 
with  prophets,  lav/-glvers,  and 
angels ;  and  the  next  Instant  he 
meekly  endures  the  dulness  of  his 
disciples,  and  the  blasphemies  and 
rage  of  the  multitude.  He  now 
calls  himself  greater  than  Solo- 
mon ;  one  who  can   command  le- 


JE  S 


584 


J  E  W 


glons  of  angels  ;  the  giver  of  life 
to  whomsoever  he  pleaseth  ;  the 
Son  of  God,  w^ho  shall  sit  on  his 
glorious  throne  to  judge  the  world. 
At  other  times  we  find  him  em- 
bra<rlng  young  children  ;  not  lift- 
ing up  his  voice  in  the  streets,  not 
breaking  the  bruised  reed,  nor 
quqnching  the  smoaking  flax  ;  cal- 
ling his  disciples  not  servants, 
but;  friends  and  brethren,  and 
comforting  them  v/ith  an  exube- 
rant and  parental  affection.  Let 
lis  pause  an  instant,  and  fill  our 
minds  with  the  idea  of  one  who 
knew  all  things^  heavenly  and 
earthly  ;  searched  and  laid  open 
the  inmost  recesses  of  the  heart ; 
rectified  every  prejudice,  and  re- 
moved every  mistake  of  a  moral 
znd  religious  kind  j  by  a  word 
exercised  a  sovereignty  over  all 
r.ature,  penetrated  the  hidden 
events  of  futurity,  gave  promises 
of  admission  into  a  happy  immor- 
tality, had  "che  keys  of  life  and 
<ieaih,  claimed  an  union  with  the 
Father ;  and  yet  was  pious,  mild, 
gentle,  humble,  affable,  social, 
benevolent,  friendly,  and  affec- 
tionate. Such  a  character  is  fair- 
er than  the  morning  star.  Each 
separate  virtue  is  made  stronger  by 
opposition  and  contrast :  and  the 
union  of  so  many  virtues  forms  a 
brightness  which  fitly  represents 
the  glory  of  that  God  '  who  in- 
habiteth  light  inaccessible."*  See 
Robinso?}'s  Plea  for  the  Divinity  of 
Christy  from  which  many  of  the 
above  remarks  are  taken  ;  Bishop 
B/ill's  ^Judgment  of  the  Catholic 
Church ;  Abhaciie^  TVaterJand^  Haw- 
ker, and  Hej!f  on  the  Divinity  of 
Christ ;  Dr.  jfamiesou's  Vieiv  of  the 
Ijocirine  of  ^-cri-p^.tire^  and  th,:  Pri- 


mitive Faith  concerning  the  Deity 
of  Christ ;  Owen  on  tJ?e  Glory  of 
Christ's  Person  ,•  Hurrion's  Christ 
Crucified;  and  Bishop  Newcom^s 
Observations  on  our  Lord's  Con- 
duct. 

JEWS,  a  name  derived  from  the 
patriarch  Judah,  and  given  to  the 
descendants  of  Abraham  by  his 
eldest  son  Isaac.  We  shall  here 
present  the  reader  with  as  com- 
prehensive a  view  of  this  singular 
people  as  we  can, 

1.  Jews,  history  of  the. — The  Air 
mighty  promised  Abraham  that  he 
would  render  his  seed  extremely 
numerous :  this  promise  began  to 
be  fulfilled  in  Jacob's  twelve  sons. 
In  about  tv/o  hundred  and  fifteen 
years  they  increased  in  Egypt  from 
seventy  to  between  two  and  three 
millions,  men,  women,  and  chil- 
dren. While  Joseph  lived,  they 
were  kindly  used  by  the  Egyptian 
monarchs ;  but  soon  after,  from  a 
I  suspicion  that  they  would  become 
too  strong  for  the  natives,  they 
were  condemned  to  slavery  ;  but 
the  more  they  were  oppressed,  the 
more  they  grew.  The  midwives, 
and  others,  were  therefore  ordered 
to  murder  every  male  infant  at 
the  time  of  its  birth  ;  but  they 
shifting  the  horrible  task,  every 
body  was  then  ordered  to  destroy 
the  male  children  wherever  they 
found  them.  After  they  had  been 
thus  oppressed  for  about  one  hun- 
dred years,  and  on  the  very  day 
that  finished  the  four  hundred  and 
thirtieth  year  from  God's  first  pro- 
mise of  a  seed  to  Abraham,  and 
about  four  hundred  years  after 
the  birth  of  Isaac,  God,-  by  terri- 
ble plagues  on  the  Egyptians, 
obliged  them  to. liberate  tlie  He-   . 


E  W 


385 


JEW 


brews  under  the  direction  of  Mo- 
ses and  Aaron.  Pharaoh  pursued 
them  with  a  mighty  army;  but 
the  Lord  opened  a  passage  for  them 
through  the  Red  Sea ;  and  the 
Egyptians,  in  attempting  to  follow 
them,  were  drowned.  After  this, 
we  find  them  in  a  dry  and  barren 
desert,  without  any  provision  for 
their  journey ;  but  God  supplied 
them  with  water  from  a  rock, 
and  manna  and  quails  from  hea- 
ven. A  little  after  they  routed 
the  Amalekites,  who  fell  on  their 
rear.  In  the  wilderness  God  de- 
livered to  them  the  law,  and  con- 
firmed the  authority  of  Moses. 
Three  thousand  of  them  were  cut 
off  for  worshipping  the  golden  calf; 
and  for  loathing  the  manna,  they 
were  punished  with  a  month's 
eating  of  flesh,  till  a  plague  brake 
out  among  them ;  and  for  their 
rash  belief  of  the  ten  wicked  spies, 
and  their  contempt  of  the  pro- 
mised land,  God  had  entirely  de- 
stroyed them,  had  not  Moses's 
prayers  prevented.  They  were 
condemned,  however,  to  wander 
in  the  desert  till  the  end  of  forty 
years,  till  that  whole  generation, 
except  Caleb  and  Joshua,  should 
be  cut  off  by  death.  Here  they 
were  often  punished  for  their  re- 
bellion, idolatry,  whoredom,  &c. 
God's  marvellous  favours,  how- 
ever, were  still  continued  in  con- 
ducting and  supplying  them  with 
meat ;  and  the  streams  issuing 
from  the  rock  of  Meribah,  fol- 
lowed their  camp  about  thirty-nine 
years,  and  their  clothes  never 
waxed  old.  On  their  entrance 
-into  Canaan,  God  ordered  them 
to  cut  ofF  every  idolatrous  Ca- 
naanite  ;  but  tlaey  spared  vast  num- 
VoL.  I.  3  D 


bers  of  them,  who  enticed  them 
to  wickedness,  and  were  soiTie- 
times  God's  rod  to  punish  them. 
For  many  ages  they  had  enjoyed 
little  prosperity,  and  often  relapsed 
into  awful  idolatry,  worshipping 
Baalim,  Ashtaroth.  Micha  and 
the  Danites  introduced  it  not  long 
after  Joshua's  death.  About  this 
time  the  lewdness  of  the  men  of 
Gibeah  occasioned  a  war  of  the 
eleven  tribes  against  their  brethren 
of  Benjamin :  they  were  twice 
routed  by  the  Benjamites,  and 
forty  thousand  of  them. were  slain. 
In  the  third,  however,  all  the 
Benjamites  were  slain,  except  six 
hundred.  Vexed  for  the  loss  of 
a  tribe,  the  other  Hebrews  pro- 
vided wives  for  these  six  hundred, 
at  the  expense  of  slaying  most  of 
the  inhabitants  of  Jaljesh  Gilead. 
Their  relapses  into  idolatry  also 
brought  on  them  repeated  turn's 
of  slavery  from  the  heathen  among 
or  around  them.  See  books  of 
Judges  and  Samuel.  Having  been 
governed  by  Judges  for  about 
three  hundred  and  forty  years,  af- 
ter the  death  of  Joshua  they  took 
a  fancy  to  have  a  king.  Saul  was 
their  first  sovereign,  under  whose 
reign  they  had  perpetual  struggles 
with  the  Ammonites,  Moabites, 
and  Philistines.  After  about  seven 
years^  struggling  between  the 
eleven  tribes  that  clave  to  Ish- 
bosheth,  the  son  of  Saul,  and  the 
tribe  of  Judah,  which  erected 
themselves  into  a  kingdom  under 
David,  David  became  sole  mo- 
narch. Under  him  they  subdued 
their  neighbours,  the  Philistines, 
Edomites,  and  others ;  and  took 
possession  of  the  whole  dominion 
which  had  bsen  promised   them, 


JEW 


386 


J  E  \V 


from  the  border  of  Egypt  to  the 
banks  of  the  Euphrates.  Under 
Solomon  they  had  little  war : 
when  he  died,  ten  of  the  Hebrevv' 
tribes  formed  a  kingdom  of  Israel, 
or  Ephraim  for  themselves,  under 
Jeroboam,  the  son  of  Nebat,  in 
opposition  to  the  kingdom  of  Ju- 
dah  and  Benjamin,  ruled  by  the 
family  of  David.  The  kingdom  of 
Israel,  Ephraim,  or  the  ten  tribes, 
had  never  so  much  as  one  pious 
king  :  idolatry  was  always  their 
established  religion.  The  kingdom 
of  Judah  had  pious  and  wicked 
sovereigns  by  turns,  though  they 
often  relapsed  into  idolatry,  which 
brought  great  distress  upon  them. 
See  books  of  Samuel,  Kings,  and 
Chronicles.  Not  only  the  kingdom 
of  Israel,  but  that  of  Judah,  was 
brought  to  the  very  brink  of  ruin 
after  the  death  of  Jehosophat. 
After  various  changes,  sometimes 
for  the  better,  and  sometimes  for 
the  worse,  the  kingdom  of  Israel 
was  ruined,  two  hundred  and  fifty- 
four  years  after  its  erection,  by  So, 
king  of  Egypt,  and  Halmanaser, 
king  of  Assyria,  who  invaded  it, 
3nd  destroyed  most  of  the  people. 
Judah  was  invaded  by  Sennache- 
rib ;  but  Hezekiah's  piety,  and  Isai- 
ah's prayer,  were  the  means  of  their 
preservation  :  but  under  Mannas- 
seh,  the  Jews  abandoned  themselves 
to  horrid  impiety ;  for  which  they 
were  punished  by  Esarhaddon,  king 
of  Assyria,  who  invaded  and  re- 
duced the  kingdom,  and  carried 
Mannasseh  prisoner  to  Babylon, 
^lannasseh  repented,  and  the  Lord 
brought  him  back  to  his  kingdom, 
where  he  promoted  the  reforma- 
tion;   but  his  son   Amon  defaced 


all.  Josiah  hovvxver  again  pro- 
moted it,  and  carried  it  to  a  hiph- 
er  pitch  than  in  the  reigns  of  Da- 
vid and  Solomon.  After  Josiah 
was  slain  by  Pharaoh  Necho,  king 
of  Egypt,  the  people  returned  to 
idolatry,  and  God  gave  them  up 
to  servitude  to  the  Egyptians  and 
the  Chaldeans.  The  fate  of  their 
kings  Jehoaz,  Jehoiakim,  Jehoia- 
chin,  and  Zedekiah,  was  unhappy. 
Provoked  by  Zecekiah's  treachery, 
Nebuchadnezzar  invaded  the  king- 
dom, murdered  vast  numbers  and 
reduced  them  to  captivity.  Thus 
the  kingdom  of  Judah  was  ruined, 
A.  M.  341 C,  about  three  hundred 
and  eighty-eight  years  after  its 
division  from  that  of  the  ten  tribes. 
In  the  seventieth  year  from  the 
begun  captivity,  the  Jews,  accord- 
ing to  the  edict  of  Cyrus,  king 
of  Persia,  who  had  overturned  the 
empire  of  Chaldea,  returned  to 
their  own  country.  See  Nehemiah, 
Ezra.  Vast  numbers  of  them,  who 
had  agreeable  settlements,  remain- 
ed in  Babylon.  After  their  return 
they  rebuilt  the  temple  and  city  of 
Jerusalem,  put  away  their  strange 
wives,  and  renewed  their  covenant 
with  God. 

About  34£0,  or  3546,  they  es- 
caped the  ruin  designed  them  by 
Haman.  About  3653,  Darius 
Ochus,  king  of  Persia,  ravaged 
part  of  Judea,  and  carried  off  a 
great  m.any  prisoners.  When  Alex- 
ander was  in  Canaan,  about  3670, 
he  confirmed  to  them  all  their 
privileges  ;  and,  having  built  Alex- 
andria, he  settled  vast  numbers 
of  them  there.  About  fourteen 
years  after,  Ptolemy  Lagus,  the 
Greek    king    of    Egypt,    ravaged 


JEW 


387 


JEW 


Judea,  and  carried  one  hundred 
thousand  prisoners  to  Egypt,  but 
used  them  kindly,  and  assigned 
them  many  places  of  trust.  About 
eight  years  after,  he  transported 
another  multitude  of  Jews  to  E- 
gypt,  and  gave  them  considerable 
privdeges.  About  the  same  time, 
Seleucus  Nicator,  having  built 
about  thirty  nev*'-  cities  in  A^ia, 
settled  in  them  as  many  Jews  as 
he  could;  and  Ptolemy  Philadel- 
phus,  of  Egypt,  about  3720, 
bought  the  freedom  of  all  the  Jew- 
ish slaves  in  Egypt.  Antiochus 
Epiphanes,  about  3834,  enraged 
with  them  for  rejoicing  at  the  re- 
port of  his  death,  and  for  the  pe- 
culiar form  of  their  worship,  in 
his  return  from  Egypt,  forced  his 
way  into  Jerusalem,  and  murder- 
ed forty  thousand  of  them ;  and 
about  two  years  after  he  ordered 
his  troops  to  pillage  the  cities  of 
Judea,  and  murder  the  men,  and  sell 
the  women  and  children  for  slaves. 
Multitudes  were  killed,  and  ten 
thousand  prisoners  carried  off:  the 
temple  was  dedicated  to  Olym- 
pius,  an  idol  of  Greece,  and  the 
Jews  exposed  to  the  basest  treat- 
ment. Mattathias,  the  priest,  with 
his  sons,  chiefly  Judas,  Jonathan, 
and  Simon,  who  were  called  Mac- 
cabees,  bravely  fought  for  their 
religion  and  liberties.  Judas,  who 
succeeded  his  father  about  3840, 
gave  Nicanor  and  the  king's  troops 
a  terrible  defeat,  regained  the  tem- 
ple, and  dedicated  it  anew,  restored 
the  daily  worship,  and  repaired  Je- 
rusalem, which  was  almost  in  a 
ruinous  heap.  After  his  death, 
Jonathan  and  Simon, -hh  brethren, 
successively  succeeded  him  ;  and 
both  wisely  and  bravely  promoted 
the  welfare  of  the  church  and  sta^c. 


Simon  was  succeeded  by  his  soil 
Hircanus,  who  subdued  Idumea, 
and  reduced  the  Samaritans.  In 
3899  he  was  succeeded  by  his 
son  Janneus  who  reduced  the 
Philistines,  the  country  of  Moab, 
Ammon,  Gilead,  and  part  of  Ara- 
bia. Under  these  three  reigns 
alone  the  Jevvish  nation  was  inde- 
pendent after  the  captivity.  After 
the  death  of  the  widow  of  Janneus-, 
who  governed  nine  year?,  the 
nation  was  almost  ruined  with  ci- 
vil broils,  in  3939,  Aristobulus 
invited  the  Rornans  to.  assist  him 
against  .Hircanus,  his  elder  bro- 
ther. The  country  was  quickly- 
reduced,  and  Jerusalem  took  by 
force  ;  and  Pompey,  and  a  num- 
ber of  his  officers,  pushed  thsir 
way  into  the  Sanctuary,  if  not 
into  the  Holy  of  Holies,  to  view 
the  furniture  thereof.  Nine  years 
after,  Crassus,  the  Roman  gene- 
ral pillaged  the  temple  of  its  va- 
luables. After  Judea  had  for 
more  than  thirty  years  been  a 
scene  of  ravage  and  blood,  and 
twenty-four  of  which  had  been 
oppressed  by  Herod  the  Great, 
Herod  got  himself  installed  in  the 
kingdom.  About  twenty  years  be- 
fore our  Saviour's  birth,  he, 
with  the  Jews'  consent,  began  to 
build  the  temple.  About  this 
time  the  Jews  had  hopes  of  the 
Messiah ;  and  about  A.  M.  4000 
Christ  actually  came,  whom  Herod 
(instigated  by  fear  of  losing  his 
throne)  sought  to  murder.  The 
Jews,  however,  a  few  -excepted, 
rejected  the  Messiah,  and  put  him 
to  death.  The  sceptre  was  now 
v/holly  departed  from  Judah  ;  and 
Judea,  about  twenty-seven  years 
before,  reduced  to  a  province.  The 
jQ'x?,  since  that  time,   h-ave  been 


JEW 


JEW 


stattered,  contemned,  persecuted, 
and  enslaved  among  all  nations,  not 
mixed  v/ith  any  in  the  common 
manner,  but  have  remained  as  a 
body  distinct  by  themselves. 

2.  Jeius'  sentiments  of.  The 
Jews  commonly  reckoned  but  thir- 
teen articles  of  their  faith.  Mai- 
monides,  a  famous  Jewish  rabbi, 
reduced  them  to  this  number  when 
he'  drew  up  their  confession  about 
the  end  of  the  eleventh  century, 
and  it  was  generally  received.  All 
the  Jews  are  obliged  to  live  and 
4ie  in  the  profession  of  these  thir- 
teen articles,  which  are  as  fol- 
low : — I .  That  God  is  the  creator 
of  all  things  j  that  he  guides  and 
supports  all  creatures ;  that  he 
has  done  every  thing  5  and  that  he 
still  acts,  and  shall  act  during  the 
whole  eternity. — 2.  That  God  is 
one  :  there  is  no  unity  like  his.  He 
alone  hath  been,  is,  and  shall  be 
eternally  our  God. — 3.  That  God 
is  incorporeal,  and  cannot  have 
any  material  properties ;  and  no 
corporeal  essence  can  be  com- 
pared with  him.  4.  That  God  is 
the  beginning  and  end  of  all 
things,  and  shall  eternally  s.vlfesist, 
— 5.  That  God  alone  ought  to  be 
worshipped,  and  none  beside  him 
is  to  be  adored. — 6.  That  what- 
ever has  been  taught  by  the  pro- 
phets is  true. — 7.  That  Moses  is 
the  head  and  father  of  all  contem- 
porary doctors,  of  those  who  lived 
before  or  shall  live  after  him. — 8. 
That  the  law  was  given  by  Moses. 
— -9.  That  the  law  shall  never 
be  altered,  and  that  God  will  give 
no  other. — 10.  That  God  knows 
all  the  thoughts  and  actions  of 
men. — 11.  Ihat  Gcd  \v;ill  regard 
the  works  of  all    thote  v/ho  have 


performed  what  he  commands, 
and  punish  those  who  have  trans- 
gressed his  laws. — 12.  That  the 
Messiah  is  to  come,  though  he 
tarry  a  long  time.— 13.  That 
there  shall  be  a  resurrection  of  the 
dead  when  God  shall  think  fit. 

The  modern  Jews  adhere  still  as 
closely  to  the  Mosaic  dispensation, 
as  their  dispersed  and  despised 
condition  will  permit  them.  Their 
service  consists  chiefly  in  read- 
ing the  law  in  their  synagogues, 
together  with  a  variety  of  pray- 
ers. They  use  no  sacrifices  since 
the  destruction  of  the  temple. 
They  repeat  blessings  and  par- 
ticular praises  to  God,  not  only 
in  their  prayers,  but  on  all  acci- 
dental occasions,  and  in  almost  all 
their  actions.  They  go  to  pray- 
ers three  times  a  day  in  their 
synagogues.  Their  sermons  are 
not  made  in  Hebrew,  which  few 
of  them  now  perfectly  understand, 
but  in  the  language  of  the  country 
where  they  reside.  They  are  for- 
bidden all  vain  swearing,  and  pro- 
nouncing any  of  the  names  of  God 
without  necessity.  They  abstain 
from  meats  prohibited  by  the  Le- 
vitical  law  j  for  which  reason, 
whatever  they  eat  must  be  dressed 
by  Jews,  and  after  a  manner  pe- 
culiar to  themselves.  As  soon  as 
a  child  can  speak,  they  teach  him 
I  to  read  and  translate  the  Bible  into 
the  language  of  the  country  where 
they  live.  In  general  they  observe 
the  same  ceremonies  which  were 
practised  by  their  ancestors  in  the 
celebration  of  the  passover.  They 
'acknowledge  a  two-fold  law  of 
God,  a  written  and  an  unwritten 
one  ;  the  former  is  contained  in 
the  Pentateuch,  or  five  books  of 


J  E  W 


589 


J  E  W 


Moses ;  the  latter,  they  pretend, 
was  delivered  by  God  to  Moses, 
and  handed  down  from  him  by 
oral  tradition,  and  now  to  be  re- 
ceived as  of  equal  authority  with 
the  former.  They  assert  the  per- 
petuity of  their  law,  together  with 
its  perfection.  They  deny  the 
accomplishment  of  the  prophecies 
rn  the  person  of  Christ ;  alleging 
that  the  Messiah  is  not  yet  come, 
and  that  he  will  make  his  appear- 
ance with  the  greatest  worldly 
pomp  and  grandeur,  subduing  all 
nations  before  him,  and  subjecting 
them  to  the  house  of  Judah. 
Since  the  prophets  have  predicted 
his  mean  condition  and  sufferings, 
they  confidently  talk  of  two  Mes- 
siahs ;  one  Ben-Ephraim,,  whom 
they  grant  to  be  a  person  of  a 
mean  and  afflicted  condition  in 
this  world ;  and  the  other,  Ben- 
David,  who  shall  be  a  victorious 
and  powerful  prince. 

The  Jews  pray  for  the  souls  of 
the  dead,  because  they  suppose 
there  is  a  paradise  for  the  souls  of 
good  men,  where  they  enjoy  glory 
in  the  presence  of  God.  They  be- 
lieve that  the  souls  of  the  wicked 
are  tormented  in  hell  with  fire  and 
other  punishments  ;  that  some  are 
condemned  to  be  punished  in  this 
manner  for  ever,  while  others  con- 
tinue only  for  a  limited  time  ;  and 
this  they  call  purgatory.,  which  is 
not  different  from  hell  in  respect 
of  the  place,  but  of  the  duration. 
They  suppose  no  Jew,  unless  guilty 
of  heresy,  or  certain  crimes  spe- 
cified by  the  rabbins,  shall  con- 
tinue in  purgatory  above  a  twelve- 
month ;  anil,  that  there  are  but 
few  who  suffer  eternal  punish- 
ment. 


Almost  all  the  modern  Jews  are 
pharisees,  and  are  as  much  at- 
tached to  tradition  as  their  ances- 
tors were;  and  assert  that  whoever 
rejects  the  oral  law  deserves  death. 
Hence  they  entertain  an  implaca- 
ble hatred  to  the  Caraites,  who 
adhere  to  the  text  of  Moses,  re- 
jecting the  rabbinistical  interpre- 
tation.    See  Caraites. 

There  are  still  some  of  the  sad- 
ducees  in  Africa,  and  in  several 
other  places  ;  but  they  are  few  in 
number  :  at .  least  there  are  but 
very  few  who  declare  openly  for 
these  opinions. 

There  are  to  this  day  some  re- 
mains of  the  ancient  sect  of  the 
Samaritans,  who  are  zealous  for 
the  law  of  Moses,  but  are  despised 
by  the  Jews,  because  they  receive 
only  the  Pentateuch,  and  observe 
different  ceremonies  from  theirs. 
They  declare  they  are  no  saddu- 
cees,  but  acknowledge  the  spiritu- 
ality and  immortality  of  the  "soul. 
There  are  numbers  of  this  sect  at 
Gaza,  Damascus,  Grand  Cairo, 
and  in  some  other  places  of  the 
east  -,  but  especially  at  Sichem, 
nowcalled  Napalouse,  whichis  risen 
out  of  the  ruins  of  the  ancient 
Samaria,  where  they  sacrificed  not 
many  years  ago,  having  a  place 
for  this  purpose  on  Mount  Gen- 
zim. 

David  Levi,  a  learned  Jew,  who 
in  1796,  published  "Dissertations 
on  the  Prophecies  of  the  Old  Tes- 
tament," observes  in  that  work, 
that  deism  and  infidelity  have 
mude  such  l.irge  strides  in  the 
world,  that  they  have  at  length 
reached  even  to  the  Jewish  nation; 
many  of  whom  r.re  at  this  time  so 
i  greatly  infected  with  scepticism,  by 


JEW 


190 


J  E  \V 


reading  Bolingbroke,  Hume,  Vol- 
taire, &c.,  that  they  scarcely  be- 
lieve in  a  revelation  5  much  less 
have  they  any  hope  in  their  future 
restoration. 

3.  Jews.)  calamities  of. — All  his- 
tory cannot  furnish  us  with  a 
parallel  to  the  calamities  and 
miseries  of  the  Jews  ;  rapine  and 
murder,  famine  and  pestilence, 
within ;  fire  and  sword,  and  all 
the  terrors  of  war,  without.  Our 
Saviour  wept  at  the  foresight  of 
these  calamities  ;  and  it  is  almost 
impossible  for  persons  of  any  hu- 
manity to  read  the  account  without 
being  affected.  The  predictions 
concerning  them  were  remarkable, 
and  the  calamities  that  came  upon 
them  were  the  greatest  the  world 
ever  saw,  Deut.  xxviii.  Deut. 
xxix.  Matt.  xxiv.  Now,  what 
heinous  sin  was  it  that  could  be 
the  cause  of  such  heavy  judg- 
ments ?  Can  any  other  be  assigned 
than  what  the  scripture  assigns  ? 
1st  Thess.  ii,  15,  i6.  «  They  both 
killed  the  Lord  Jesus  and  their 
own  prophets,  "and  persecuted  the 
apostles ;"  and  so  filled  up  their 
sins,  and  wrath  came  upon  them 
to  the  uttermost.  It  is  hardly 
possible  to  consider  the  nature  and 
extent  of  their  suirerings,  and  not 
conclude  the  Jew's  own  impreca- 
tion to  be  singularly  fulfilled  upon 
them,  Matt,  xxvii,  25.  "  His 
blood  be  on  us  and  our  children." 
At  Cesarea  tv/enty  thousand  of  the 
Jews  were  killed  by  the  Syrians  in 
their  mutual  broils.  At  Damas- 
cus ten  thousand  unarmed  Jews 
vv'ere  killed  ;  and  at  Bethshan  the 
Heathen  inhabitants  caused  their 
Jewish  neighbours  to  assist  them 
against  their  brethren,    and    then 


murdered  thirteen  thousand  of 
these  inhabitants.  At  Alexandria 
the  Jews  murdered  multitudes  of 
the  Heathen,  and  were  murdered 
in  their  turn  to  about  fifty  thou- 
sand. The  Romans  under  Ves- 
pasian invaded  the  country,  and 
took  the  cities  of  Galilee,  Cho- 
razen,  Bethsaida,  Capernaum,  &c., 
where  Christ  had  been  espe- 
cially rejected,  and  murdered 
numbers  of  the  inhabitants.  At 
Jerusalem  the  scene  was  most 
wretched  of  all.  At  the  passover, 
when  there  might  be  two  or  three 
millions  of  people  in  the  city,  the 
Romans  surrounded  it  with  troops, 
trenches,  and  walls,  that  none 
might  escape.  The  three  different 
factions  within  murdered  one  an- 
other. Titus,  one  of  the  most  mer- 
ciful generals  that  ever  breathed, 
did  all  in  his  power  to  persuade 
them  to  an  advantageous  surren- 
der, but  they  scorned  every  pro- 
posal. The  multitudes  of  unbn- 
ried  carcasses  corrupted  the  air, 
and  produced  a  pestilence.  The 
people  fed  on  one  another;  and 
even  ladies,  it  is  said,  broiled  their 
sucking  infants,  and  ate  them. 
After  a  siege  of  six  months,  the  city 
was  taken.  They  murdered  al- 
most every  Jew  they  met  with. 
Titus  v/as  bent  to  save  the  temple, 
but  could  not :  there  were  six  thou- 
sand Jews  V,  ho  had  taken  shelter  in 
it,  all  burnt  or  murdered  !  The 
outcries  of  the  Jews,  when  they 
saw  it,  was  most  dreadful :  the 
whole  city,  except  three  towers 
and  a  small  part  of  the  wall,  was 
razed  to  the  ground,  and  the  foun- 
dations of  the  temple  and  other 
places  were  ploughed  up.  Scon 
;.fter  the    forts  of    Herodian  and 


JEW 


391 


JEW 


Macheron  were  taken,  the  garri- 
son of  Massada  murdered  them- 
selves rather  than  surrender.  At 
Jerusalem  alone,  it  is  said,  one 
million  one  hundred  thousand 
perished  by  sword,  famine,  and 
pestilence.  In  other  places  we 
hear  of  two  hundred  and  fifty 
thousand  that  were  cut  off,  besides 
vast  numbers  sent  into  Egypt  to 
labour  as  slaves.  About  fifty  years 
after,  the  Jews  murdered  about 
five  hundred  thousand  of  the  Ro- 
man subjects,  for  which  they  were 
severely  punished  by  Trajan.  A- 
bout  130,  one  Barocaba  pretended 
that  he  was  the  Messiah,  and  rais- 
ed a  Jewish  army  of  two  hundred 
thousand,  who  murdered  all  the 
Heathens  and  Christians  who  came 
in  their  way  ;  but  he  was  defeated 
by  Adrian's  forces.  In  this  war, 
it  is  said,  about  sixty  thousand 
Jews  were  slain,  and  perished. 
Adrian  built  a  city  on  Mount  Cal- 
vary, and  erected  a  marble  statue 
of  swine  over  the  gate  that  led  to 
Bethlehem.  No  Jew  was  allowed 
to  enter  the  city,  or  to  look  to  it 
at  a  distance,  under  pain  of  death. 
In  360  they  began  to  rebuild  their 
city  and  temple ;  but  a  terrible 
earthquake  and  flames  of  fire 
issuing  from  the  earth,  killed  the 
workmen,  and  scattered  their  ma- 
terials. Nor  till  the  seventh  cen- 
tury durst  they  so  much  as  creep 
over  the  rubbish  to  bewail  it, 
without  bribing  the  guards.  In 
the  third,  fourth,  and  fifth  cen- 
turies they  were  many  of  them  fu- 
riously harassed  and  murdered. 
In  the  sixth  century  twenty  thou- 
sand of  them  were  slain,  and  as 
many  taken  and  sold  for  slaves.. 
In  602  they  were  severely  punish- 


ed for  their  horrible  massacre  of 
the  Christians  at  Antioch.  In. 
Spain,  in  700,  they  were  ordered  to 
be  enslaved.  In  the  eighth  and 
ninth  centuries  they  were  greatly 
derided  and  abused  :  in  some  places 
they  were  made  to  wear  leathern 
girdles,  and  ride  without  stirrups 
on  asses  and  mules.  In  France  and 
Spain  they  were  much  insulted. 
In  the  tenth,  eleventh,  and  twelfth 
centuries,  their  miseries  rather  in- 
creased :  they  were  greatly  per- 
secuted in  Egypt.  Besides  what 
they  .suffered  in  the  East  by  thc; 
Turkish  and  sacred  war,  it  isj' 
shocking  to  think  what  multi-* 
tudes  of  them  the  eight  croisades 
murdered  in  Germany,  Hungary, 
Lesser  Asia,  and  elsewhere.  In 
France  multitudes  were  burnt. 
In  England,  in  1020,  they  were 
banished ;  and  at  the  coronation 
of  Richard  I,  the  mob  fell  upon 
them,  and  murdered  a  great  many 
of  them.  About  one  thousand 
five  hundred  of  them  were  burnt 
in  the  palace  in  the  city  of  York, 
which  they  set  fire  to,  themselves,^ 
after  killing  their  wives  and  chil- 
dren. In  the  thirteenth  and  four- 
teenth centuries  their  condition 
was  no  better.  In  Egypt,'  Canaan, 
and  Syria,  the  croisaders  still  ha- 
rassed them.  Provoked  with  their 
mad  running  after  pretended  Mes- 
siahs, Califf  Nasser  scarce  left  any 
of  them  alive  in  his  dominions  of 
Mesopotamia.  In  Persia,  the  Tar- 
tars murdered  them  in  multitudes. 
In  Spain,  Ferdinand  persecuted 
them  furiously.  About  1349,  the 
terrible  massacre  of  them  at  Tole- 
do forced  many  of  them  to  murder 
themselves,  or  change  their  religion. 
About  1253  many  were  murderedj^ 


JE  W 


392 


J  E  W 


and  others  banished  from  France, 
buf  in  1275  recalled.  In  1320 
and  1330  the  croisades  of  the  fa- 
natic shepherds,  who  wasted  the 
south  of  France,  massacred  them  ; 
besides  fifteen  hundred  that  were 
murdered  on  another  occasion.  In 
1358  they  were  finally  banished 
from  France,  since  which  few  of 
them  have  entered  that  country. 
In  1291  king  Edward  expelled 
them  from  England,  to  the  num- 
ber of  one  hundred  and  sixty  thou- 
sand. In  the  fifteenth,  sixteenth, 
and  seventeenth  centuries  their 
misery  continued.  In  Persia  they 
have  been  terribly  used :  from  1663 
to  1666,  the  murder  of  them  was 
so  universal,  that  but  a  few  escap- 
ed to  Turkey.  In  Portugal  and 
Spain  they  have  been  miserably 
handled.  About  1492,  six  or  eight 
hundred  thousand  were  banished 
from  Spain.  Some  were  drowned 
in  their  passage  to  Africa  •,  some  by 
hard  usage ;  and  many  of  their 
carcasses  lay  in  the  fields  till  the 
wild  beasts  devoured  them.  In 
Germany  they  have  endured  many 
hardships.  They  have  been  ba- 
nished from  Bohemia,  Bavaria, 
Cologne,  Nuremberg,  Augsburg, 
and  Vienna ;  they  have  been  ter- 
ribly massacred  in  Moravia,  and 
plundered  in  Bonn  and  Bamberg. 
Except  in  Portugal  and  Spain, 
their  present  condition  is  generally 
tolerable.  In  Holland,  Poland, 
2nd  at  Frankfort  and  Hamburgh, 
they  have  their  liberty.  They 
have  repeatedly,  but  in  vain,  at- 
tempted to  obtain  a  naturalization 
in  England,  and  other  nations  a- 
mong  Vv'hom  they  are  scattered. 
4.  JeicSj preservaticn  of. — "The 


preservation  of  the  Jews,"  says 
Basnage,  "  in  the  midst  of  the 
miseries  which  they  have  under- 
gone during  1700  years,  is  the 
greatest  prodigy  that  can  be  ima- 
gined. Religions  depend  on  tem- 
poral prosperity :  they  triumph 
under  the  protection  of  a  con- 
queror -,  they  languish  and  sink 
with  sinking  monarchies.  Pagan- 
ism, which  once  covered  the 
earth,  is  extinct.  The  Chris- 
tian church,  glorious  in  its  mar- 
tyrs, yet  was  considerably  dimi- 
nished by  the  persecutions  to 
which  it  was  exposed  ;  nor  was  it 
easy  to  repair  the  breaches  in  it 
made  by  those  acts  of  violence. 
But  here  we  behold  a  church  hated 
and  persecuted  for  1700  ages, 
and  yet  sustaining  itself,  and  wide- 
ly extended.  Kings  have  often  em- 
ployed the  severity  of  edicts  and 
the  hand  of  executioners  to  ruin 
it.  The  seditious  multitudes,  by 
murders  and  massacres,  have  com- 
mitted outrages  against  it  still 
more-violent  and  tragical.  Princes 
and  people.  Pagans,  Mahometans, 
Christians,  disagreeing  in  so  many 
things,  have  united  in  the  design 
of  exterminating  it,  and  have  not 
been  able  to  succeed.  The  Bush 
of  Moses,  surrounded  with  flames, 
ever  burns,  and  is  never  consumed. 
The  Jews  have  been  expelled,  in 
different  times,  from  every  part 
of  the  world,  which  hath-  only 
served  to  spread  them  in  all  re- 
gions. From  age  to  age  they  have 
been  exposed  to  misery  and  per- 
secution ;  yet  still  they  subsist,  in 
spite  of  the  ignominy  and  the 
hatred  which  hath  pursued  them 
in  all  places,  whilst  the  greatest 


JEW 


m 


JEW 


Iftoiiarchies  are  fallen,  and  no-| 
thing  remains  of  them  besides  ^ 
the  name.  ^  | 

"  The  judgments  which  God  has  • 
exercised  upon  this  people  are ; 
terrible,  extending  to  the  men,' 
the  religion,  and  the  very  land  in  ^ 
which  they  dwelt.  The  ceremo- 
nies  essential  to  their  religion  can ' 
no  more  be  observed  :  the  ritual 
law,  which  cast  a  splendour  on  the ' 
national  worship,  and  struck  the: 
Pagans  so  much  that  they  sent, 
their  presents  and  their  victims  to ; 
Jerusalem,  is  absolutely  fallen,  for  | 
they  have  no  temple,  no  altar, 
no  sacrifices.  Their  land  itself 
seems  to  lie  under  a  never-ceas- 
ing curse.  Pagans,  Christians, 
Mohammedans,  in  a  word,  almost 
all  nations,  have  by  turns  seized; 
and  held  Jerusalem.  To  the  Jew  \ 
only  hath  God  refused  the  pos-  j 
session  of  this  small  tract  of 
ground,  so  supremely  necessary 
for  him,  since  he  ought  to  wor- 
ship on  this  mountain.  A  Jewish 
writer  hath  afhrmed,  that  it  is  long 
gince  any  Jew  has  been  seen  set- 
tled near  Jerusalem:  scarcely  can 
they  purchase  their  six  feet  of  land 
for  a  burying-place. 

"  In  all  this  there  is  no  exagge- 
ration :  I  am  only  pointing  out 
known  facts  •,  and,  far  from  hav- 
ing the  least  design  to  raise  an 
odium  against  the  nation  from  its 
miseries,  I  conclude  that  it  ought 
to  be  looked  upon  as  one  of  those 
prodigies  which  we  admire  with- 
out comprehending  ;  since,  in  spite 
of  evils  so  durable,  and  a  patience 
so  long  exercised,  it  is  preserved 
by  a  particular  Providence.  The 
Jew  ought  to  be  weary  of  expect- 
incj  a  Messiah  who  so  unkindly  dis- 

VoL.  I.  3  E 


appoints  his  vain  hopes  ;  and  the 
Christian  ought  to  have  his  atten- 
tion and  his  regard  excited  to- 
wards men  whom  God  preserves, 
for  so  great  a  length  of  time,  un- 
der calamities  which  would  have 
been  the  total  ruin  of  any  other 
people." 

5.  JewSy  number  and  dispersion  ef. 
—They  are  looked  upon  to  be  as 
numerous  at  present  as  they  were 
formerly  in  the  land  of  Canaan. 
Some  have  rated  them  at  three 
millions,  and  others  more  than 
double  that  number.  Their  dis- 
persion is  a  remarkable  particular 
in  this  people.  They  swarm  all 
over  the  east,  and  are  settled,  it  is 
said,  in  the  remotest  parts  of 
China.  The  Turkish  empire 
abounds  with  them.  There  are 
more  of  them  at  Constantinople 
and  Salonichi  than  in  any  other 
;  place  :  they  are  spread  through 
most  of  the  nations  of  Europe  and 
Africa,  and  many  families  of  them 
are  established  in  the  West  Indies , 
not  to  mention  whole  nations  bor- 
dering on  Prester  John's  country, 
and  some  discovered  in  the  inner 
parts  of  America,  if  we  may  give 
any  credit  to  their  own  writers. 
Their  being  always  in  rebellions 
(as  Addison  observes)  while  they 
had  the  Holy  Temple  in  vievi^,  has 
excited  most  nations  to  banish 
them.  Besides,  the  whole  people 
are  now  a  race  of  such  merchants 
as  are  wanderers  by  profession  j 
and  at  the  same  time  are  in  most 
if  not  all  places  incapable  of  either 
lands  or  offices,  that  might  engage 
them  to  make  any  part  of  the 
world  their  home.  In  addition  to 
this,  we  may  consider  what  provi- 
dential  reasons   may  be  assigned 


J  E  W 


394 


J  E  W 


for  their  numbers  and  dispersion. 
Their  firm  adherence  to  their  re- 
ligion, and  being  dispersed  all  over 
the  earth  has  furnished  every  age 
and  every  nation  with  the  strong- 
est arguments  for  the  Christian 
faith;  not  only  as  these  very  par- 
ticulars are  foretold ,  of  them,  but 
as  they  themselves  are  the  deposi- 
taries of  these  and  all  other  pro- 
phecies which  tend  to  their  own 
eonfusion  and  the  establishment  of 
Christianity.  Their  number  fur- 
nishes us  with  a  sufficient  cloud  of 
witnesses  that  attest  the  truth  of 
the  Bible,  and  their  dispersion 
spreads  these  witnesses  through  all 
parts  of  the  world. 

6.   jfeivs^    restoration   of. — From 

the    declarations   of   scripture  we 

have  reason  to   suppose  the  Jews 

shall  be  called  to   a  participation 

of  the  blessings  of  the  gospel,  Rom. 

xi.  2d  Cor.  iii,  IG.Hos.  i,  11..  and 

some  suppose  shall  return  to  their 

own  land,  Hos.  iii,  5.  Is.  Ixv,   17, 

&c.  Ezek.  xxxvl.     As  to  the  time, 

some  think   about  1866  or  2016; 

but  this,  perhaps,  is  not  so  easy  to 

determine  altogether,  though  it  is 

probable  it  will  not  be  before  the 

fall  of  Antichrist  and  the  Ottoman 

empire.     Let  us,  however,   avoid 

putting  stumbling-blocks  in   their 

way.     If    we  attempt    any    thing 

for.  their  conversion,  let  it  be  with 

peace    and    love.      Let    us,    says 

one,  propose  Christianity  to  them, 

as  Christ  proposed    it    to    them. 

Let  us  lay  before  them  their  own 

prophecies.     Let   us    shew  them 

their    accomplishment    in    Jesus. 

Let  us    applaud    their    hatred  of 

idolatry.     Let  us  shew  them  the 

morality  of  Jesus  in  oiir  lives  and 

tempers.     Let   us    never    abridge 


their  civil  liberty,  nor  ever  try  to 
force  their  consciences.  Josephus^s 
Hist,  of  the  Jeivs;  Spect.y  No.  495, 
vol.  iv ;  Levis  Ceremonies  of  the 
Jewish  Religion  ,•  Buxtorf  de  Sy- 
nagoga  Judaica ,-  Spencer  de  Legi- 
bus  Heb.  Rit.  ;  Newton  on  Propk.  ; 
.  Warhurtoi^ s  Address  to  the  Jews, 
in  the  Dedication  of  the  2d  vol.  of 
his  Legation ;  Sermons  preached 
to  the  Jews  at  Berry  Street^  by  Dr. 
Haiueis  and  others  ;  Basnage's  and 
Orckley's  Hist,  of  the  Jews  ;  Shaw's 
Philosophy  of  Judaism  ;  Hartley  on 
Man^  vol.  ii,  prop.  8,  vol.  iii,  p. 
455,  487;  Bicheno^ s  Restoration  of 
the  Jews ;  Jortin's  Rem.  on  Ecc. 
Hist.y  vol.  iii,  p.  427,  447;  Dr. 
H.  Jackson's  Works y  vol.  i,  p.  153; 
Neale's  Hist,  of  the  JeiVs  ;  Pirie's 
Posth.  Works,  vol.  i. 

IGNOPvANCE,  the  want  of 
knov/ledge  or  instruction.  It  is  of- 
ten used  to  denote  illiteracy.  Mr. 
Locke  observes,  that  the  causes  of 
ignorance  are  chiefly  three. — 1. 
Want  of  ideas. — 2.  Want  of  a 
discoverable  connexion  between 
the  ideas  we  have. — 3.  Want  of 
tracing  and  examining  our  ideas. 
As  it  respects  religion,  ignorance 
has  been  distinguished  into  three 
sorts :  1 .  An  invincible  ignorance, 
in  which  the  will  has  no  part.  It 
is  an  insult  upon  justice  to  suppose 
it  Vi/^ill  punish  men  because  they 
were  ignorant  of  things  which 
they  were  physically  incapa- 
ble of  knowing. — 2.  There  is 
a  wilful  and  obstinate  ignorance ; 
such  an  ignorance,  far  from  ex- 
culpating, aggravates  a  man's 
crimes. — 3.  A  sort  of  ignorance 
which  is  neither  entirely  wilful, 
nor  entirely  invincible  ;  as  when 
a   man   has   the  m.eans  of  know- 


iL 


ILL 


kdge,  and  does  not  use  them.  See 
Knowledge  ;  and  Locke  on  the 
Und.f  vol.  ii,  p.  1 78 ;  Grove's 
Mor.  Phil.  vol.  ii,  p.  26,  29,  64  ; 
Watts  on  the  Mind. 

ILLUMINATI,  a  term  ancient- 
ly applied  to  such  as  had  received 
baptism.  The  name  was  occa- 
sioned by  a  ceremony  in  the  bap- 
tism of  adults,  vi^hich  consisted  in 
putting  a  lighted  taper  in  the 
hand  of  the  person  baptized,  as 
a  symbol  of  the  faith  and  grace  he 
had  received  in  the  sacrament. 

ILLUMINATI  was  also  the 
name  of  a  sect  which  appeared  in 
Spain  about  the  year  1575.  They 
were  charged  with  maintaining  that 
mental  prayer  and  contemplation 
had  so  intimately  united  them  to 
God,  that  they  were  arrived  to 
such  a  state  of  perfection,  as  to 
stand  in  no  need  of  good  works  or 
the  sacraments  of  the  church,  and 
that  they  might  commit  the  gross- 
est crimes  without  sin. 

After  the  suppression  of  the  II- 
luminati  in  Spain,  there  appeared 
a  denomination  in  France  which 
took  the  same  name.  They  main- 
tained that  one  Anthony  Buckuet 
had  a  system  of  belief  and  practice 
revealed  to  him  which  exceeded 
every  thing  Christianity  had  yet 
been  acquainted  with  :  that  by  this 
method  persons  might  in  a  short 
time  arrive  at  the  same  degrees  of 
perfection  and  glory  to  which 
the  saints  and  the  Blessed  Virgin 
have  attained  j  and  this  improve- 
ment might  be  carried  on  till  our 
actions  became  divine,  and  our 
minds  wholly  given  up  to  the  in- 
fluence of  the  Almighty.  They 
laid  further,  that  none  of  the  doc- 


j  tors  of  the  church  knew  any  thing 

I  of  religion  ;   that  Paul  and  Peter 

j  were  well-meaning  meUj  but  knew 

i  nothing    of    devotion ;    that    the 

I  whole  church  lay  in  darkness  and 

!  unbelief  i   that  every  one   was  at 

1  liberty  to  follow  the  suggestions  of 

I  his  conscience  ;  that  God  regarded 

I  nothing  but    himself ;     and    that 

within    ten    years    their    doctrine 

would    be   received    all   over  the 

world;    then  there   would  be   no 

more  occasion  for  priests,  monks, 

and  other   such  religious  distinc-, 

tions. 

ILLUMINATI,  a  name  assumed 
by  a  secret  society,  founded  on  the 
1st  of  May,  1776,   by  Dr.  Adam 
Weishaupt,  professor  of  canon  law. 
in   the   university   of   Ingoldstadt. 
The  avowed  object  of  this  order 
was,  "  to  diffuse  from  secret  socie- 
ties, as  from  so  many  centres,  the 
light  of  science  over  the  world ;  to 
propagate  the  purest  principles  of 
virtue  ;  and  to  reinstate  mankind  in 
the  happiness  which  they  enjoyed 
during  the   golden  age  fabled   by 
the  poets."     Such  a  philanthropic 
object  was  doubtless  well  adapted 
to  make  a  deep  impression  on  the 
minds  of  ingenuous   young  men  j 
and  to  such  alone  did  Dr.  Weish- 
aupt at  first  address  himself.     But 
*'  the  real  object,"  we  are  assured 
byprofessorRobison  and  Abbe  Bar- 
ruel,  "  was,  by  clandestine  arts,  to 
overturn  every  government  and  eve- 
ry religion  ;  to  bring  the  sciences  of 
civil  life  into  contempt ;  and  to  re- 
duce mankind  to   that   imaginary 
state  of  nature,  when  they  lived  in- 
dependent of  each  other  on  the  spon^ 
taneous  productions  of  the  earth." 
Free  Masonry  being  in  high  repu. 


ILL 


596 


ILL 


tation  all  over  Europe  when  Wei- 
shaupt  first  formed  the  plan  of  his 
society,  he  availed  himself  of  its  se- 
crecy, to  introduce  his  new  order  ; 
of  which,  he  constituted  himself 
general)  after  initiating  some  of  his 
pupils,  whom  he  styled  Areopa- 
gites,  in  its  mysteries.  And  when 
report  spread  the  news  throughout 
Germany  of  the  institution  of  the 
Order  of  Illuminees,  it  was  gene- 
rally considered  as  a  mere  college 
lodge,  which  could  interest  the 
students  no  longer  than  during  the 
period  of  their  studies.  Weish- 
aupt's  character,  too,  which  at  this 
time  was  respectable  for  morality 
as  well  as  erudition,  prevented  all 
suspicion  of  his  harbouring  any 
such  dark  designs  as  have  since 
corne  to  light.  But  it  would  far  ex- 
ceed the  limits  to  which  this  work 
is  restricted,  to  give  even  an  outline 
of  the  nature  and  constitution  of 
this  extraordinary  society,  of  its  se- 
crets and  mysteries  ;  of  the  deep 
dissimulation,  consummate  hypo- 
crisy, and  shocking  impiety  of  its 
founder  and  his  associates  ;  of  their 
Jesuitical  art  in  concealing  their  real 
objects,  and  their  incredible  indus- 
try and  astonishing  exertions  in 
making  converts ;  of  the  absolute 
despo'tisnv  and  complete  system  of 
espionnage  established  throughout 
the  order  ;  of  its  different  degrees 
of  Novices y  Miner'ualsy  Alinor  and 
Major  Illuraiiiees ;  Epopts^oxFriests, 
Regents,  Magiy  and  Man-kifigs  ;  of 
the  Recruiters  or  Insinuators,  v/ith 
their  various  subtle  methods  of 
insinuating  into  all  characters  and 
companies  ;  of  the  blind  obedience 
exacted  of  the  Novices,  and  the 
absolute  p;nver  of  life  and  death 


assumed  by  the  order,  and  conced- 
ed by  the  Novices  ;  of  the  dictiona- 
ry, geography,  kalendar,and  cypher 
of  the  order  of  the  new  names  as- 
sumed by  the  members,  such  as 
Spartacus  by  Weishaupt,  because  he 
pretended  to  wage  war  against  op- 
pressors •,  Cuto  by  Zw  ck  -,  Ajax 
by  Massenhausen,  8cc. ;  of  the  Mi- 
neral Academy  and  Library ;  of  tha 
questions  proposed  to  the  candi- 
dates for  degrees,  and  the  various 
ceremonies  of  admission  to  each; 
and  of  the  pretended  morality,  real 
blasphemies,  and  absolute  atheism, 
of  the  founder  and  his  tried  friends. 
Such  of  our  readers  as  wish  to  be 
fully  informed  of  these  matters, 
we  mubt  refer  to  the  Abbe  Barru- 
el's  works,  and  to  Prof.  Robison's 
Proofs  of  a  Conspiracy  against  all  the 
Religions  and  Governments  of  Eu" 
rope.  But  while  credit  maybe  given 
to  the  general  facts  related  in  these 
works,  some  doubts  respecting  the 
ultimate  object  of  Dr.  Weishaupt 
and  his  associates  in  this  conspi- 
racy may  be  expressed,  as  :  That 
men  of  their  principles  should  se- 
cretly conspire  to  overthrow  all  the 
religions  and  governments  at  pre- 
sent in  Europe,  is  by  no  means 
incredible  :  that  they  should  even 
prevail  on  many  well-meaning 
philanthropists,  who  are  no  ene- 
mies to  rational  religion  or  good 
government,  to  join  them,  is  also 
very  credible.  But  that  a  set 
of  men  of  learning  and  abilities, 
such  as  Weishaupt  and  his  asso- 
ciates are  allowed  to  be,  should 
form  a  conspiracy  to  overturn, 
and  with  more  than  Gothic  rage 
utterly  abolish  the  arts  and 
sciences,  and  to  restore  the  sifp- 


ILL 


397 


IMA 


posed  original  savage  state  of  man, 
appears  to  us  a  phenomenon  in 
the  history  of  the  human  heart  to- 
tally unaccountable.  That  "  the 
heart  of  man  is  deceitful  above  all 
things,  and  desperately  wicked,"  is 
a  melancholy  truth,  which  not 
scripture  alone,  but  the  history  of 
mankind  in  all  ages  and  nations, 
affords  full  proof  of,  as  well  as 
the  shocking  history  of  the  lUumi- 
nati ;  but  while  pride  and  vanity 
have  a  place  in  the  human  heart, 
to  say  nothing  of  our  other  pas- 
sions, which  are  more  or  less  in- 
terested in  the  preservation  of  the 
discoveries  and  improvements  in 
arts,  sciences,  and  their  inseparable 
concomitant  luxury,  we  are  per- 
suaded no  man,  or  body  of  men, 
who  have  enjoyed  the  sweets  of 
civilized  life,  ever  formed  a  serious 
wish  for  the  total  abolition  of  the 
arts  and  sciences.  In  the  fury  and 
rage  of  war,  Goths,  Vandals,  and 
Turks,  may  burn  and  destroy 
monuments  of  art  and  reposito- 
ries of  science ;  but  when  the 
wars  are  over,  instead  of  return- 
ing to  the  savage  state,  the  barba- 
rous conquerors  mix  and  amalga- 
mate with  the  conquered,  and  be- 
come themselves  more  or  less  ci- 
vilized. Dr.  Weishaupt  is  allow- 
ed to  be  influenced  by  a  high  de- 
gree of  vanity  ;  as  an  evidence  of 
which  he  communicates  as  the  last 
secret  to  his  most  favoured  adepts, 
that  the  mysteries  of  Illuminism, 
which,  in  going  through  the  infe- 
rior degrees,  had  been  successive- 
ly attributed  to  the  most  ancient 
patriarchs  and  philosophers,  and 
even  to  Christ  himself,  owed  its 
origin  to  no  other  than  Adam 
Weishaupt,  known  in  the  order  by 


the  name  of  Spartacus.  The  same 
vanity  which  leads  the  doctor  to 
take  this  traditional  method,  while 
secresy  is  deemed  necessary,  of  se- 
curing to  himself  the  honour  of 
havi.'^  founded  the  society,  would 
lead  him,  were  the  Illuminati  ac- 
tually victorious  over  all  religions 
and  governments,  to  wish  to  have 
his  memory  recorded  in  a  more 
durable  manner  by  writing  or 
printing.  But  if  these  and  all 
the  other  arts  were  to  perish  in  a 
mass,  then  the  memory  of  the  doc- 
tor, and  the  important  services  he 
had  done  to  the  order  and  to 
savagism,  must,  within  a  century 
at  the  utmost,  perish  along  with 
them.  But  if,  in  fact,  the  total 
annihilation  of  the  arts  and 
sciences,  as  well  as  of  all  religion 
and  government,  be  really  the  ob- 
ject of  Weishaupt  and  his  lUumi- 
nees,  then  we  may  agree  with  the 
celebrated  Mandeville,  that  "hu- 
man nature  is  the  true  Lybian  de- 
sert, daily  producing  new  monsters^ 
and  that  of  these  monsters  the 
doctor  and  his  associates  are  be- 
yond a  doubt  the  most  extraordi- 
nary. Professor  Robison  informs 
us,  that  "  the  order  of  Illuminati 
was  abolished  in  1786  by  the 
elector  of  Bavaria,  but  revived 
immediately  after,  under  another 
name,  and  in  a  different  form,  all 
over  Germany.  It  was  again  de- 
tected, and  seemingly  broken  up  ; 
but  it  had  by  this  time  taken  so 
deep  root,  that  it  still  subsists  with- 
out being  detected,  and  has  spread, 
we  are  told,  into  all  the  countries 
of  Europe. 

IMAGE,  in  a  religious  sense, 
is  an  artificial  representation  of  some 
person  or  thing  used  as  an  object 


1  U  A 


!98 


IMA 


of  adoration  ;  in  which  sense  it  is 
used  synonymously  with  idol.  The 
use  and  adoration  of  images  have 
been  long  controverted.  It  is  plain, 
from  the  practice  of  the. primi- 
tive church,  recorded  by  the  ear- 
lier fathers,  that  Christians,  dur- 
ing the  first  three  centuries, 
and  the  greater  part  of  the  fourth, 
neither  worshipped  images,  nor 
used  them  in  their  v/orship.  How- 
ever, the  generality  of  the  po- 
pish divines  maintain  that  the  use 
and  worship  of  images  are  as  an- 
cient as  the  Christian  religion  it- 
self:  to  prove  this,  they  allege  a 
decree,  said  to  have  been  made  in 
a  council  held  by  the  apostles  at 
Antioch,  commanding  the  faith- 
ful, that  they  may  not  err  about 
the  object  of  their  worship,  to 
make  images  of  Ciirist,  and  wor- 
ship them.  Baron,  ad  ann.  102. 
But  no  notice  is  taken  of  this  de- 
cree till  seven  hundred  years  after 
the  apostolic  times,  after  the  dis- 
pute about  images  had  commenced. 
The  first  instance  that  occurs, 
in  any  credible  author,  of  images 
among  Christians,  is  that  record- 
ed by  TertuUian  de  Pudicit.  c. 
10,  of  certain  cups  or  chalices,  as 
Bellarmine  pretends,  on  which 
v/as  i"eprescnted  the  parable  of  the 
good  shepherd  carrying  the  lost 
sheep  on  his  shoulders :  but  this 
instance  only  proves  that  the 
church,  at  that  time,  did  not  think, 
emblematical  figures  unlavi'ful  or- 
tiaments  of  chalices.  Another  in- 
stance is  taken  from  Eusebius 
fHisLEccI.,]ih.\ii,  cap.  18),  who 
says,  that  in  his  time  there  were  to 
be  seen  two  brass  statues  in  the 
city  of  Paneas,  or  Cresarea  Plii- 
IiDpi  i   the  one  of  a  woman  on  her 


knees,  with  her  arm  stretched  out ; 
the  other  of  a  man  over  against 
her,  with  his  hand  extended  to  re- 
ceive her  :  these  statues  were  said 
to  be  the  images  of  our  Saviour, 
and  the  woman  whom  he  cured  of 
an  issue  of  blood.  From  the  foot 
of  the  statue  representing  our  Sa- 
viour, says  the  historian,  sprung, 
up  an  exotic  plant,  which,  as  soon 
as  it  grew  to  touch  the  border  of  his 
garment,  was  said  to  cure  all  sorts 
of  distempers.  Eusebius,  how- 
ever, vouches  none  of  these  things; 
nay,  he  supposes  that  the  woman 
who  erected  this  statue  of  our  Sa- 
viour was  a  pagan,  and  ascribes 
it  to  a  pagan  custom.  Philos- 
torgius  (Eccl.  Hist.,  lib.  vii,  c  3) 
expressly  says,  that  this  statue 
was  carefully  preserved  by  the 
Christians,  but  that  they  paid  no 
kind  of  worship  to  it,  because  it  is 
not  lawful  for  Christians  to  wor- 
ship brass,  or  any  other  matter. 
The  primitive  Christians  abstained 
from  the  worship  of  images,  not, 
as  the  Papists  pretend  from  ten- 
derness to  heathen  idolaters,  but 
because  they  thought  it  unlawful 
in  itself  to  make  any  images  of  the 
Deity.  TertuUian,  Clemens  Alex- 
andrinus,  and  Origen,  were  of 
opinion,  that,  by  the  second  com- 
mandment, painting  and  engraving 
were  unlawful  to  a  Christian,  styl- 
ing them  evil  and  wicked  arts. 
Tert.  de  Idol.  cap.  3.  Clem.  Alex. 
Admon.  ad  Gent.  p.  41.  Origen. 
contra  Celsum,  lib.  vi,  p.  182. 
The  use  of  images  in  churches,  as 
ornaments,  was  first  introduced  by 
som.e  Christians  in  Spain,  in  the 
beginning  of  the  fourth  century; 
but  the  practice  was  condemned 
as  a  dangerous  innovation,    in    a 


IMA 


199 


council  held  at  Eliberis  in  305. 
Epiphanius,  in  a  letter  preserved  by 
Jerom,  torn,  ii,  ep.  6,  bears  a  strong 
testimony  against  images  ;  and  he 
may  be  considered  as  one  of  the 
first  iconoclasts.  The  custom  of  ad- 
mitting pictures  of  saints  and  mar- 
tyrs into  churches  (for  this  was  the 
first  source  of  image  worship)  was 
rare  in  the  end  of  the  fourth  cen- 
tury, but  became  common  in  the 
fifth.  But  they  were  still  consider- 
ed only  as  ornaments,  and,  even  in 
this  view,  they  met  with  very  con- 
siderable opposition.  In  the  fol- 
lowing century  the  custom  of  thus 
adorning  churches  became  almost 
universal,  both  in  the  East  and 
West.  Petavius  expressly  says  fde 
Jficar.j  lib.  xv,  cap.  14),  that  no 
statues  were  yet  allowed  in  the 
churches,  because  they  bore  too 
pear  a  resemblance  to  the  idols  of 
the  Gentiles.  Towards  the  close 
of  the  fourth,  or  beginning  of  the 
fifth  century,  images,  which  were 
introduced  by  way  of  ornament, 
and  then  used  as  an  aid  to  devo- 
tion, began  to  be  actually  worship- 
ped. However,  it  continued  to  be 
the  doctrine  of  the  church  in  the 
sixth,  and  in  the  beginning  of  the 
seventh  century,  that  images  were 
to  be  used  only  as  helps  to  devotion, 
and  not  as  objects  of  worship.  The 
worship  of  them  was  condemned  In 
the  strongest  terms  by  Gregory  the 
Great,  as  appears  by  two  of  his 
letters  written  in  601.  From  this 
time  to  the  beginning  of  the  eighth 
century,  there  occurs  no  instance  of 
any  worship  given,  or  allowed  to 
be  given,  to  images,  by  any  council 
or  assembly  of  bishops  whatever. 
But  they  were  commonly  worship- 
ped by  the  monks  and  populace  in 


the  beginning  of  the  eighth  century^ 
insomuch,  that  in  726,  when  Leo 
published  his  famous  edict,  it  had 
already  spread  into  all  the  provinces 
subject  to  the  empire.  The  Lu- 
therans condemn  the  Calvinists  for 
breaking  the  images  in  the  churches 
of  the  Catholics,  looking  on  it  as  a 
kind  of  sacrilege ;  and  yet  they 
condemn  the  Romanists  (who  are 
professed  image-ivorshippers )  as 
idolaters :  nor  can  these  last  keep 
pace  with  the  Greeks,  who  go  far 
beyond  then)  in  this  point,  which 
has  occasioned  abundance  of  dis- 
putes among  them.  SeelcoNOCLAs- 
TEs.  The  Jews  absolutely  con- 
demn all  images,  and  do  not  so 
much  as  suffer  any  statues  or  figures 
in  their  houses,  much  less  in  their 
synagogues,  or  places  of  worship. 
The  Mahometans  have  an  equal 
aversion  to  images ;  which  led  them 
to  destroy  most  of  the  beautiful  mo- 
numents of  antiquity,  both  sacred 
and  profane,  at  Constantinople. — 
Bingham'' s  Orig.  EccL^  b.  viii,  c.  8  ^ 
3IiddletorCs  Letters  from  Rome^  p. 
21  ;  Burnet  on  the  Art.^  p.  ^09> 
219;  Doddridge's  Lect.^  lect.  193  \ 
Tennrson  on  Idolatry^  p.  2G9,  275  j 
R'ld'^kij's  Body  of  Div.^  qu.  110. 

IMAGE  OF  GOD  in  the  soul, 
is  distinguished  into  natural  and 
moral.  By  natural  is  meant  the 
understanding,  reason,  will,  and 
other  intellectual  faculties.  By 
the  moral  image,  the  right  use  of 
those  faculties,  or  what  we  term 
holiness. 

IMAGINATION  is  a  power  or 
faculty  of  the  mind,  whereby  it 
conceives  and  forms  ideas  of  things 
communicated  to  it  by  the  out- 
ward organs  of  sense ;  or  it  is  the 
power  of  recollecting  and  assem- 


I  M 


iVl 


400 


I  MM 


biing  images,  and  of  painting  for- 
cibly those  images  on  our  minds,  or 
on  the  minds  of  others.  The  cause 
of  the  pleasures  of  the  imagination 
in  whatever  is  great,  uncommon,  or 
beautiful,  is  this  ;,  that  God  has  an- 
nexed a  secret  pleasure  to  the  idea 
of  any  thing  that  is  new  or  rare, 
that  he  might  encourage  and  stimu- 
late us  in  the  eager  and  keen  pur- 
suits after  knowledge,  and  inflame 
our  best  passions  to  search  into  the 
wonders  of  creation  and  revelation ; 
for  every  new  idea  brings  such  a 
pleasure  along  with  it,  as  rewards 
any  pains  ue  have  taken  in  its  ac- 
quisition, and  consequently  serves 
as  a  strikingand  powerful  motive  to 
put  us  upon  fresh  discoveries  in 
learning  and  science,  as  well  as  in 
the  word  and  works  of  God.  See 
Rijlancfs  Contemplation^  vol.  i.  p. 
C4  -J  Akenside^s  Pleasures  of  Imagi- 
nation ;  Addison! s  beautiful  Papers 
en  the  Imagination^  6  vol.  Spect. 
p.  64,  &c.  ;  Grove'' s  Mor,  Phil.^ 
p.  354,   355,  410,  vol.  i. 

IMMATERIALISM,  the  belief 
fhat  the  soul  is  a  spiritual  substance 
distinct  from  the  body.  See  Ma- 
terialism and  Soul. 

IMMENSITY,  unbounded  orin- 
tomprehensible  greatness  ;  and  un- 
Fimited  extension,  which  no  finite 
and  determinate  space,  repeated 
ever  so  often,  can  equal.  See 
Bnfintty  of  God. 

IMMORALITY,  an  action  in- 
consistent with  our  duty  towards 
men,  and  consequently  a  sin  against 
God,  who  hath  commanded  us  to 
^o  ju-tly,  and  love  mercy.  See  Mo- 
rality. 

IMMORTALITY,  a  state  which 
has  no  end  -,  the  impossibility  of 
dying.     It  is  applied  to  God,  who 


is  absolutely  immortal,  1st  Ti«i.  i, 
17.  and  to  the  human  soul,  which 
is  only  hypothetically  immortal ; 
as  God,  who  at  first  gave  it,  can,  if 
he  pleases,  deprive  it  of  existence. 
See  Soul. 

IMMUTABILITY  OF  GOD, 
is  his  unchangeableness.  He  is  im- 
mutable in  his  essence^  James  i,  \T. 
In  his  attributes^  Ps.  cii,  if.  In 
h\s purposes,  Isa.  xxv,  1.  Ps.  xxxiii, 
11.  In  his  promises,  Mai.  iii,  6. 
2d  Tim.  ii,  12.  And  in  his  threat- 
enifigy,  Matt,  xxv,  41.  "  This  is  it 
perfection,"  says  Dr.  Blair,  "which, 
perhaps,  more  than  any  other  dis- 
tinguishes the  divine  nature  from 
the  human,  gives  complete  energy 
to  all  its  attributes,  and  entitles  it 
to  the  highest  adoration.  For 
hence  are  derived  the  regular  or- 
der of  nature,  and  the  steadfast- 
ness of  the  universe.  Hence  flow* 
the  unchanging  tenor  of  those  laws 
which  from  age  to  age  regulate  the 
conduct  of  mankind.  Hence  the 
uniformity  of  that  government,  and 
the  certainty  of  those  promises, 
which  are  the  ground  of  our  trust 
and  security.  An  objection,  how- 
ever, may  be  raised  against  this 
doctrine,  from  the  commands  given 
us  to  prayer,  and  other  religious 
exercises.  To  what  purpose,  it  may 
be  urged,  is  homage  addressed  to  a 
Being  whose  plan  is  unalterably 
fixed  ?  This  objection  would  have 
weight  if  our  religious  addresses 
were  designed  to  work  any  alter- 
ation on  God,  either  by  giving  him 
information  of  what  he  did  not 
know,  or  by  exciting  affections 
which  he  did  not  possess  ;  or  by  in- 
ducing him  to  change  measures 
vv^hich  he  had  previously  formed : 
but  they  are  only  crude  arid  imper- 


IMP 


401 


IMP 


feet  notions  of  religion  which  can 
suggest  such  ideas.  The  change 
which  our  devotions  are  intended 
to  make  are  upon  ourselves,  not 
upon  the  Almighty.  By  pouring 
out  our  sentiments  and  desires  be- 
fore God,  by  adoring  his  perfec- 
tions, and  confessing  our  unwor- 
thiness  ;  by  expressing  our  depend- 
ence on  his  aid,  our  gratitude  for 
his  past  favours,  our  submission  to 
his  present  will,  and  our  trust  in 
his  future  mercy,  we  cultivate  such 
affections  as  suit  our  place  and  sta- 
tion in  the  universe,  and  are  to  be 
exercised  by  us  as  men  and  as 
Christians.  The  contemplation  of 
this  divine  perfection  should  raise 
in  our  minds  admiration ;  should 
teach  us  to  imitate,  as  far  as  our 
frailty  will  permit,  that  constancy 
and  steadfastness  which  we  adore, 
2d  Cor.  iii,  18.  And,  lastly,  should 
excite  trust  and  confidence  in  the 
Divine  Being,  amidst  all  the  revolu- 
tions of  this  uncertain  world." 
Blai/s  Sermons,  ser.  4,  vol.  ii; 
CharnocFs  Worhs^  vol.  i,  p.  203  ; 
Gill's  Body  of  Div.y  vol.  i,  p.  50  •, 
Lamberfs  SerTno?is,  ser.  on  Mai.  iii,  6. 

IMPANATION,  a  term  used 
by  divines  to  signify  the  opinion  of 
the  Lutherans  with  regard  to  the 
eucharist,  who  believe  that  the 
species  of  bread  and  wine  remain 
together  with  the  body  of  our  Sa- 
viour after  consecration. 

IMPECCABILES,  a  name  giv- 
en to  those  heretics  who  boasted 
that  they  were  impeccable,  and 
that  there  was  no  need  of  repen- 
tance ;  such  were  the  Gnostics, 
Priscillianists,   &c. 

IMPECCABILITY,  the  state  of 
a  person  who  cannot  sin ;  or  a 
grace,  privilege,  or  principle,  which 

Vol.  r.  3  F 


puts  him  out  of  a  possibility  of  sin- 
ning. Divines  have  distinguished 
several  kinds  of  impeccability  :  that 
of  God  belongs  to  him  by  nature ; 
that  of  Jesus  Christ,  considered  a$ 
man,  belongs  to  him  by  the  hypos- 
tatical  union ;  that  of  the  blessed, 
in  consequence  of  their  condi- 
tion, &c. 

IMPLICIT  FAITH,  is  that  by 
which  we  take  up  any  system  or 
opinion  of  another  without  exami- 
nation. This  has  been  one  of  the 
chief  sources  of  ignorance  and  er- 
ror in  the  church  of  Rome.  The 
divines  of  that  community  teach, 
"  That  we  are  to  observe  not  how 
the  church  proves  any  thing,  but 
what  she  says.  That  the  will  of 
God  is,  that  we  should  believe  and 
confide  in  his  ministers  in  the  same 
manner  as  himself."  Cardinal  To- 
letus,  in  his  instructions  for  priests, 
asserts,  "  That  if  a  rustic  believes 
his  bishop  proposing  an  heretical  te- 
net for  an  article  of  faith,  such  be- 
lief is  meritorious."  Cardinal  Cu- 
sanus  tells  us,  "  That  irrational 
obedience  is  the  most  consummate 
and  pei-fect  obedience,  when  we 
obey  without  attending  to  reason, 
as  a  beast  obeys  his  driver."  In  an 
epistle  to  the  Bohemians  he  has 
these  words  :  "  I  assert,  that  there 
are  no  precepts  of  Christ  but  those 
which  are  received  as  such  by  the 
church  (meaning  the  church  of 
Rome).  When  the  church  changes 
her  judgment,  God  changes  his 
judgment  likewise."  What  mad- 
ness !  what  blasphemy !  For  a 
church  to  demand  belief  of  what 
she  teaches,  and  a  submission  to 
what  she  enjoins,  merely  upon  her 
assumed  authority,  must  appear  to 
unprejudiced  minds  the  height  of 


IMP 


40i 


IMP 


tinreasonableness  and  spiritual  des- 
potism. We  could  wish  this  doc- 
trine had  been  confined  to  this 
church  j  but,  alas  !  it  has  been  too 
prevalent  in  other  communities. 
A  theological  system,  says  Dr.  Jor- 
tin,  is  too  often  no  more  than  a 
temple  consecrated  to  implicit  faith  -, 
and  he  who  enters  in  there  to  wor- 
ship, instead  of  leaving  his  shoes, 
after  the  eastern  manner,  must 
leave  his  understanding  at  the  door; 
and  it  will  be  well  if  he  find  it  when 
he  comes  out  again. 

IMPOSITION  OF  HANDS, 
an  ecclesiastical  action,  by  which  a 
bishop  lays  his  hand  on  the  head  of 
a  person  in  ordination,  confirma- 
tion, or  in  uttering  a  blessing. 
This  practice  is  also  frequently  ob- 
served by  the  Dissenters  at  the  or- 
dination of  their  preachers  ;  when 
the  ministers  present  place  their 
hands  on  the  head  of  him  whom 
they  are  ordaining,  while  one  of 
ftiem  prays  for  a  blessing  on  him 
and  on  his  future  labours.  They 
are  not  agreed,  however,  as  to  the 
propriety  of  this  ceremony.  Some 
suppose  it  to  be  confined  to  those 
who  received  extraordinary  gifts  in 
the  primitive  times  :  others  think  it 
ought  to  be  retained,  as  it  was  an  an- 
cient practice  used  where  no  extra- 
ordinary gifts  were  conveyed,  Gen. 
xlviii,  14.  Matt,  xix,  15.  They  do 
not  suppose  it  to  be  of  such  an  im- 
portant and  essential  nature,  that  the 
validity  and  usefulness  of  a  man's 
future  ministry  depend  upon  it  in 
any  degree.  Imposition  of  hands 
was  a  Jewish  ceremony,  introduced 
not  by  any  divine  authority,  but  by 
custom;  it  being  the  practice  among 
those  people,  whenever  fhey  prayed 
to  God  for  any  person  to  lay  their 
hands  on  his  head.     Our  Saviour 


observed  the  same  custom,  both 
when  he  conferred  his  blessing  on 
children,  and  when  he  heal^ed  the 
sick,  adding  prayer  to  the  ceremo- 
ny. The  apostles,  likewise,  laid 
hands  on  those  upon  whom  they 
bestowed  the  Holy  Ghost.  The 
priests  observed  the  same  custom 
when  any  one  was  received  into 
their  body.  And  the  apostles 
themselves  underwent  the  imposi- 
tion of  hands  afresh  every  time  they 
entered  upon  any  new  design.  In 
the  ancient  church,  imposition  of 
hands  was  even  practised  on  persons 
when  they  married,  which  custom 
the  Abyssinians  still  observe.  Mo~ 
rices  DiaL  on  Soc.  Relig.^  p.  163, 
1 68  ;  Watts'* s  Rational  Foundation 
of  a  Christian  Ch.^  p,  31  ;  Turner 
onChurch  Gov..^!^.  TO;  King^s  Pri- 
mitive Christ.  C/i.,p.  49. 

IMPOSTORS  RELIGIOUS, 
are  such  as  pretend  to  an  extraor- 
dinary commission  from  heaven, 
and  who  terrify  the  people  with 
false  denunciations  of  judgments. 
Too  many  of  these  have  abounded 
in  almost  all  ag'es.  They  are 
'punishable  in  the  temporal  courts 
with  fine,  imprisonment,  and  cor- 
poral punishment.  See  False 
Messiahs. 

IMPOTENCY,  or  Impotence, 
is  considered  as  natural  and  moral. 
Natural  is  the  want  of  some  physi- 
cal principle  necessary  to  an  action, 
or  where  a  being  is  absolutely  defec- 
tive, or  not  free  and  at  liberty  to  act. 
Moral  im potency  imports  a  great 
difliculty ;  as  a  strong  habit  to  the 
contrary  ;  a  violent  passion  ;  or  the 
like. 

IMPURITY,  want  of  that  regard 
to  decency,  chastity,  or  holiness, 
vv^hich  our  duty  requires.  Impurity, 
in  the  law  of  Moses,  is  any  legal  de- 


IMP 


403 


I  M  V 


filemeiit.  Of  these  there  were  se- 
veral sorts:  some  were  voluntary,  as 
the  touching  a  dead  body,  or  any 
animal  that  died  of  itself ;  or  any 
creature  that  was  esteemed  unclean ; 
or  the  touching  things  holy  by  one 
who  was  not  clean,  or  was  not  a 
priest ;  the  touching  one  who  had  a 
leprosy,  one  who  had  a  gonorrhoea, 
or  who  was  polluted  by  a  dead  car- 
cass, &c.  Sometimes  these  impu- 
rities were  involuntary ;  as  when 
anj  one  inadvertently  touched 
bones,  or  a  sepulchre,  or  any  thing 
polluted  j  or  fell  into  such  diseases 
as  pollute,  as  the  leprosy,  &c. 

The  beds,  clothes,  and  moveables 
which  had  touched  any  thing  un- 
clean, contracted  also  a  kind  of  im- 
purity, and  in  some  cases  communi- 
cated it  to  others. 

These  legal  pollutions  were  gene- 
rally removed  by  bathing,  and  last- 
ed no  longer  than  the  evening.  The 
person  polluted  plunged  over  head 
in  the  water ;  and  either  had  his 
clothes  on  when  he  did  so,  or  wash- 
ed himself  and  his  clothes  separate- 
ly. Other  pollutions  continued  se- 
ven days  ;  as,  that  which  was  con- 
tracted by  touching  a  dead  body. 
Someimpuritieslasted  forty  or  fifty 
days  ;  as,  that  of  women  who  were 
lately  delivered,  who  were  unclean 
forty  days  after  the  birth  of  a  boy, 
and  fifty  after  the  birth  of  a  girl. 
Others,  again,  lasted  till  the  person 
was  cured. 

Many  of  these  pollutions  were 
expiated  by  sacrifices,  and  others 
by  a  certain  water  or  lye  made  with 
the  ashes  of  a  red  heifer,  sacrificed 
on  the  great  day  of  expiation.  When 
the  leper  was  cured,  he  went  to  the 
temple,  and  offered  a  sacrifice  of 
two  birds,  one  of  which  was  killed, 


and  the  other  set  at  liberty.  He 
who  had  touched  a  dead  body,  or 
had  been  present  at  a  funeral,  was 
to  be  purified  with  the  water  of  ex- 
piation, and  this  upon  pain  of  death. 
The  women  who  had  been  deliver- 
ed offered  a  turtle  and  a  lamb  for 
her  expiation  •,  or  if  she  was  poor, 
two  turtles,  or  two  young  pigeons. 

These  impurities,  which  the  law 
of  Moses  has  expressed  with  the 
greatest  accuracy  and  care,  were 
only  figures  of  other  more  import- 
ant impurities,  such  as  the  sins  and 
iniquities  committed  against  God, 
or  faults  committed  against  our 
neighbour.  The  saints  and  pro- 
phets of  the  Old  Testament  were 
sensible  of  this ;  and  ourSaviour,  in 
the  gospel,  has  strongly  inculcated, 
— that  they  are  not  outward  and 
corporeal  pollutions  which  render 
us  unacceptable  to  God,  but  such 
inward  pollutions  as  infect  the  soul, 
and  are  violations  of  justice,  truth, 
and  charity. 

IMPUTATION  is  the  attribut- 
ing  any  matter,  quality,  or  charac- 
ter, whether  good  or  evil,  to  any 
person  as  his  own.  It  may  refer  to 
what  was  originally  his,  antecedent- 
ly to  such  imputation ;  or  to  what 
was  not  antecedently  his,  but  be- 
comes so  by  virtue  of  such  imputa- 
tion only,  2d  Sam.  xix,  19.  Ps.  cvi, 
31.  The  imputation  that  respects 
our  justification  before  God  is  of  the 
latter  kind,  and  may  be  defined  thus: 
it  is  God's  gracious  donation  of  the 
righteousness  of  Christ  to  believers, 
and  his  acceptance  of  their  persons 
as  righteous  on  the  account  thereof. 
Their  sinsbeing  imputed  tohim,  and 
his  obedience  being  imputed  to 
them,  they  are,  in  virtue  hereof, 
both  acquitted  from  guilt,  and  ac^ 


I  N  A 


404 


INC 


cepted  as  righteous  before  God, 
Rom.  iv,  6,  7.  Rom.  v,  18,  19.  2d 
Cor.  V,  21.  See  Righteousness, 
Sin  ;  Dickinson' s  Letters^  p.  156  ; 
Herveys  I'heron  and  Aspasio,  vol.  ii, 
p.  43  ;  Doddridge's  Works,  vol.  iv, 
p.  552  5  Watts's  Works,  vol.  iii,  p. 
532. 

INABILITY,  want  of  power  suf- 
ficient for  the  performance  of  any- 
particular  action  or  design.  It  has 
been  divided  into  natural  and  moral. 
We  are  said  to  be  naturally  unable 
to  do  a  thing  when  w^e  cannot  do  it 
if  we  wish,  because  of  some  imped- 
ing defect  or  obstacle  that  is  extrin- 
sic to  the  will,  either  in  the  under- 
standing, constitution  of  body,  or 
external  objects.  Moral  inability 
consists  not  in  any  of  these  things, 
but  either  in  the  want  cf  inclina- 
tion, or  the  strength  of  a  contrary 
inclination  ;  or  the  want  of  sufficient 
motives  in  view  to  induce  and  excite 
the  act  of  the  will,  or  the  strength 
of  apparent  motives  to  the  contrary. 
For  the  sake  of  illustration,  we  will 
here  present  the  reader  with  a  few 
examples  of  both. 


isfciii'.ral. 
Cain  could  net  have 
killed  Abel,  if  Cain 
had  been  the  weakcsf, 
and  Abel  aware  of 
him. 

Jacob  could  iT>t  re- 
joice in  Joseph's  exal- 
tation before  he  heard 
of  it. 

The  woman  men- 
tioned in  id  ivings, 
vi,  29.  could  not  kill 
her  n£Jijhj>rtir's  son 
and  eat  him,  when 
he  was  hid  and  she 
could  not  find  him. 

Hazael  could  not 
have  saiothcred  Bcn- 


Tiloral. 
Cain  could  not  have 
killed   Abel,    if  Cain 
had  feared   God,  and 
loved  his  brother, 

Potiphar's  wife  could 
not  rejoice  in  it,  if 
she  continued  under 
it. 

Had  that  woman 
been  a  very  affection- 
ate mother,  she  could 
not  have  killed  her 
own  son  in  a  time  of 
plenty,  as  she  did  in  a 
time  of  famine. 

If  a  dutiful  affec- 
tionate son  had   been 


NafiiraL  Moral. 

hadad,  if  he  had  not  waiting  on  Benhadad 
been  suffered  to  enter  in  Hazael's  stead,  he 
his  chamber.    ,  could  not  have  smoth- 

ered   him  as    Hazael 
did. 

These  are  a  few  instances  from 
which  we  may  clearly  learn  the 
distinction  of  natural  and  moral  in- 
ability. It  must  not,  however,  be 
forgotten,  that  moral  inability  or 
disinclination  is  no  excuse  for  our 
omission  of  duty,  though  want  of 
natural  faculties  or  necessary  means 
would.  That  God  may  command, 
though  man  hath  not  a  present  mo- 
ral ability  to  perform,  is  evident.  If 
we  consider,  1.  That  man  once 
had  a  power  to  do  whatsoever  God 
would  command  him,  he  had  a 
power  to  cleave  to  God. — 2.  That 
God  did  not  deprive  man  of  his 
ability. — 3.  Therefore  God's  right 
of  commanding,  and  man's  obli- 
gation of  returning  and  cleaving  to 
God,  remains  firm.  See  Liberty; 
and  Theol.  Alisc,  vol.  ii,  p.  488; 
Ed-ivards  on  the  Will ;  ChnrnocFs 
,  Works,  vol.  ii,  p.  187;  Watts  on 
i  Liberty^   p.  4. 

I  INCARNATION,  the  act 
^  whereby  the  Son  of  God  assumed 
\  the  human  nature  ;  or  the  mystery- 
fey  which  Jesus  Christ,  the  Eternal 
Word,  was  made  man,  in  order  to 
accomplish  the  work  of  our  salva- 
tion. See  Nativity. 

INCEST,  the  crime  of  criminal 
and  unnatural  commerce  with  a  per- 
son within  the  degrees  forbidden  by 
the  law.  By  the  rules  of  the  church, 
incest  was  formerly  very  absurdly 
extended  even  to  the  seventh  de- 
gree ;  but  it  is  now  restricted  to  the 
third  or  fourth.  Most  nations  look 
on  incest  with  horror  ;  Persia  and 


INC 


405 


INC 


Egypt  excepted.  In  the  history  of  I 
the  ancient  kings  of  those  countries 
we  meet  vnth  instances  of  brothers  j 
marrying  their  own  sisters,  because  i 
they  thought  it  too  mean  to  join  in  i 
alHance  with  their  own  subjects, 
and  still  mbre  so  to  marry  into  any 
foreign  family.  Vortigern,  king  of 
South  Britain,  equalled,  or  rather 
excelled,  them  in  wickedness,  by 
marrying  his  own  daughter.  The 
queen  of  Portugal  was  married 
to  her  uncle  ;  and  the  prince,  of 
Brazil,  the  son  of  that  Incestuous 
marriage,  is  wedded  to  his  aunt. 
But  they  had  dispensations  for  these 
unnatural  marriages  from  his  holi- 
ness.  *'  In  order,"  says  one,  **  to 
preserve  chastity  in  families,  and 
between  persons  of  different  sexes 
brought  up  and  living  together  in  a 
state  of  unreserved  intimacy,  it  Is 
necessary,  by  every  method  possible, 
to  inculcate  an  abhorrence  of  inces- 
tuous conjunctions  -,  which  abhor- 
rence can  only  be  upheld  by  the 
absolute  reprobation  of  ^//commerce 
of  the  sexes  between  near  relations. 
Upon  this  principle  the  marriage^ 
as  well  as  other  cohabitation  of  bro- 
thers and  sisters  of  lineal  kindred, 
and  of  all  who  usually  live  in  the 
same  family,  may  be  said  to  be  for- 
bidden by  the  law  of  nature.  Re- 
strictions which  extend  to  remoter 
degrees  of  kindred  than  what  this 
reason  makes  it  neces'^ary  to  prohi- 
bit from  Intermarriage,  are  founded 
in  the  authority  of  the  positive  law 
which  ordains  them,  and  can  only 
be  justified  by  their  tendency  to  dif- 
fuse wealth,  to  connect  families,  or 
to  promote somepolitical advantage. 
<'  The  Levitical  law,  which  is 
received  in  this  country,  and  from 
wWch  the  rule  of  the  Roman  law 


differs  very  little,  prohibits  marriage 
between  relations  within  three  de- 
gress of  kindred  ;  computing  the 
generations  not  from,  but  through 
the  common  ancestor,  and  account- 
ing affinity  the  same  as  consangui- 
nity. The  issue,  however,  of  such 
marriages  are  not  bastardized,  un- 
less the  parents  be  divorced  during 
their  lifetime."  Palefs  Mor.  Phil.y 
p.  316,  vol.  i. 

INCEST  SPIRITUAL,  an  Ideal 
crime,  committed  between  two  per- 
sons who  have  a  spiritual  alliance, 
by  means  of  baptism  or  confirma- 
tion. This  ridiculous  fancy  was 
made  use  of  as  an  Instrument  of 
great  tyranny  in  times  when  the 
power  of  the  pope  was  unlimited, 
even  queens  being  sometimes  di- 
vorced upon  this  pretence.  Incest 
Spiritual  is  also  understood  of  a 
vicar,  or  other  beneficiary,  who  en- 
joys both  the  mother  and  the 
daughter ;  that  Is,  holds  two  bene- 
fices, one  whereof  depends  upon 
the  collation  of  the  other.  Such  spi- 
ritual incest  renders  both  the  one 
and  the  other  of  these  benefices 
vacant. 

INCLINATION  Is  the  disposi- 
tion or  propensity  of  the  mind  to 
any  particular  object  or  action ;  or 
a  kind  of  bias  upon  nature,  by  the 
force  of  which  It  Is  carried  towards 
certain  actions  previously  to  the 
exercise  of  thought  and  reasoning 
about  the  nature  and  consequences 
of  them.  Inclinations  are  of  two 
kinds,  natural  or  acquired.  1.  Na- 
tural are  such  as  we  often  see  In 
children,  who  from  their  earliest 
years  differ  in  their  tempers  and 
dispositions.  In  one  you  see  the 
dawnings  of  a  liberal  diffusive  soul ; 
another  gives  us  cause  to  fear  he  will 


INC 


406 


INC 


be  altogether  as  narrow  and  sordid. 
Of  one  we  may  say  he  is  naturally 
revengeful ;  of  another,  that  he  is 
patient  and  forgiving. — 2.  Acquired 
inclinations  are  such  as  are  superin- 
duced by  custom,  which  are  called 
habits  ;  and  these  are  either  good 
or  evil.  See  Habit. 

INCOMPRF.HENSII^ILITY  OF 
GOD,  This  is  ^  relative  term, 
and  indicates  a  relation  between 
an  object  and  a  faculty  -,  between 
God  and  a  created  understanding, 
.so  that  the  meaning  of  it  is  this, 
that  no  created  understanding  can 
comprehend  God  ;  that  is,  have  a 
perfect  and  exact  knowledge  of  him, 
«uch  a  knowledge  as  is  adequate  to  , 
the  perfection  of  the  object.  Job 
xi,  7.  Is.  xl.  God  is  incomprehen- 
sible, 1.  As  to  the  natm"e  of  his  es- 
sence. 2.  The  excellency  of  his 
attributes.  3.  The  depth  of  his 
counsels.  4.  The  works  of  his 
providence.  5.  The  dispensation  of 
his  grace,  Eph,  iii,  8.  Job  xxxvii, 
25.  Rom.  xi.  The  incomprehen- 
sibility of  God  follows,  I .  From  his 
being  a  spirit  endued  with  perfec- 
tions greatly  superior  to  our  own, 
— 2.  There  may  be  {for  any  thing 
we  certainly  know)  attributes  and 
perfections  in  God  of  v/hich  we 
have  not  the  least  idea. — 3.  In 
those  perfections  of  the  Divine  na- 
ture of  which  we  have  some  idea, 
there  are  many  things  to  us  inex- 
plicable, and  with  which,  the  more 
deeply  and  attentively  we  think  of 
them,  the  more  we  find  our  thoughts 
swallowed  up  ;  such  as  his  self-ex- 
istence, eternity, omnipresence,  &c. 
This  should  learn  us,  therefore,  1. 
To  admire  and  reverexice  the  Di- 
vine Being,  Zech.  ix,  17.  Neh.  ix, 
o. — 2.  To  be  humble  and  modest, 


Ps.  viii,  1,  4.  Eccl.  V,  2,  3.  Job 
xxxvii,  19. — ^3.  To  be  serious  in 
our  addressess,  and  sincere  in  our 
behaviour  towards  him.  Caryl  on 
Job  xxvii,  25  ;  Tillotsori's  Sermons^ 
sermon  156;  Ahernethfs  Sermons, 
vol.  ii,  No.  6,  7;  Doddridge's  Led., 
lee.  59. 

INCONTINENC  Y,  not  abstain- 
ing  from    unlawful   desires.     See 

CoNTINENCY. 

INCORPOREALITYOF  GOD, 
is  his  being  without  a  body.  That 
God  is  incorporeal  is  evident ;  for, 
1.  Materiality  is  incompatible  with 
self-existence,  and  God  being  self- 
exigtent,  must  be  incorporeal. — 2. 
If  God  v/ere  corporeal,  he  could 
not  be  present  in  any  part  of  the 
v/orld  where  body  is  -,  yet  his  pre- 
sence is  necessary  for  the  support 
arid  motion  of  body. — 3.  A  body 
cannot  be  in  two  places  at  the  same 
time  ;  yet  he  is  every  where,  and 
fills  heaven  and  earth. — 4.  A  body 
is  to  be  seen  and  felt,  but  God  is 
invisible  and  impalpable,  John  i,  18. 
ChnrnocFs  Works,  vol.  i,  p.  117; 
Doddridge' s  Led.,  lee.  47  ;  GilPs 
Body  of  Div.,  vol.  i,   p.  45.  oct. 

INCORRUPTIBLES,  or  In- 
coRRUPTiBiLEs,  the  name  of  a  sect 
which  sprang  out  of  the  Euty- 
chains.  Their  distinguishing  tenet 
was,  that  the  body  of  Jesus  Christ 
was  incorruptible  ;  by  which  they 
meant,  that,  after  and  from  the  time 
v/herein  he  was  formed  in  the 
womb  of  his  mother,  he  was  not 
susceptible  of  any  change  or  altera- 
tion ;  not  even  of  any  natural  or  in- 
nocent passion,  as  of  hunger,  thirst, 
&c.  •,  so  that  he  ate  without  occar 
sion  before  hfs  death,  as  well  as 
after  his  resurrection. 

INCREDULITY,  the  withhold- 


IND 


407 


IND 


jng  our  assent  to  any  proposition, 
notwithstanding  argun\ents  suffi- 
cient to  demand  assent.  See  Dun- 
can Forbes's  piece  entitled,  Reflec- 
tions on  the  Sources  of  Iticredulity 
with  regard  to  Religion. 

INDEPENDENCY  OF  GOD 
is  his  existence  in  and  of  himself, 
without  depending  on  any  other. 
"  His  being  and  perfections,"  as 
Dr.  Ridgley  observes  (Body  of 
Div.,  q.  7)  "  are  underived,  and  not 
communicated  to  him,  as  all  finite 
perfections  are  by  him  to  the  crea- 
ture. This  attribute  of  indepen- 
dency belongs  to  all  his  perfections. 
1.  He  is  independent  as  to  his 
knowledge.  He  doth  not  receive 
ideas  from  any  object  ouc  of  him- 
self, as  intelligent  creatures  do. 
This  is  elegantly  described  by  the 
prophet.  Is.  xl,  13,  14. — 2.  He  is 
independent  in  power.  As  he  re- 
ceives strength  from  no  one,  so  he 
doth  not  act  dependently  on  the 
will  of  the  creature.  Job  xxxvi,  23. 
— 3.  He  is  independent  as  to  his 
holiness,  hating  sin  necessarily  and 
not  barely  depending  on  some  rea- 
sons out  of  himself  inducing  him 
thereto  ;  for  it  is  essential  to  the  Di- 
vine nature  to  be  infinitely  oppo- 
site to  sin,  and  therefore  to  be  inde- 
pendently holy. — 4.  He  is  indepen- 
dent as  to  his  bounty  and  goodness. 
He  communicates  blessings  not  by 
constraint,  but  according  to  his  so- 
vereign will.  Thus  he  gave  being 
to  the  world,  and  all  things  therein, 
which  was  the  first  instance  of  boun- 
ty and  goodness  ;  and.  this  not  by 
constraint,  but  by  his  free  will  •» 
'  for  his  pleasure  they  are  and  were 
created.'  In  like  manner,  what- 
ever instances  of  mercy  he  extends 
to  miserable  creatures,  he  acts  inde- 


pendently, and  not  by  force.  He 
shews  mercy  because  it  is  his  plea- 
sure to  do  80,  Rom.  ix,  1  8.  That 
God  is  independent,  let  it  farther 
be  considered,  1.  That  all  things 
depend  on  his  power  v/hich  brought 
them  into  and  preserves  them  in  be- 
ing. If,  therefore,  all  things  depend 
on  God,  then  it  would  be  absurdity 
to  say  that  God  depends  on  any 
thing,  for  this  would  be  to  suppose 
the  cause  and  the  effect  to  be  mu- 
tually dependent  on  and  derived 
from  each  other,  which  infers  a  con- 
tradiction.— 2.  If  God  be  infinitely 
above  the  highest  creatures,  he  can- 
not depend  on  any  of  them,  for  de- 
pendence argues  inferiority.  Is.  xl. 
15,  17. — 3.  If  God  depend  on  any 
creature,  he  does  not  exist  necessa- 
rily ;  and  if  so,  then  he  m^ght  not 
have  been  :  for  the  same  will  by 
which  he  is  supposed  to  exist  might 
have  determined  that  he  should  not 
have  existed,  which  is  altogether 
inconsistent  with  the  idea  of  a  God. 
From  God's  being  independent,  we 
infer,  1.  That  We  ought  to  conclude 
that  the  creature  cannot  lay  any 
obligation  on  him,  or  do  any  thing 
that  may  tend  to  make  him  more 
happy  than  he  is  in  himself,  Rom. 
xi,  35.  Job  xxii,  2,  3. — 2.  If  in- 
dependency be  a  divine  perfection, 
then  let  it  not  in  any  instance,  or  by 
any  consequence,  be  attributed  to 
the  creature  ;  let  us  conclude  that 
all  our  springs  are  in  himj  and  that 
all  we  enjoy  and  hope  for  is  from 
him,  who  is  the  author  and  finisher 
of  our  faith,  and  the  fountain  of  all 
our  blessedness." 

INDEPENDENTS,   a  sect   of 

Protestants,   so  called   from  their 

maintaining  that  each  congregation 

I  of  Christians  which  meets  in  one 


IND 


408 


IND 


house  for  public  worship  is  a  com- 
plete church  ',  has  sufficient  power 
to  act  and  perform  every  thing  re- 
latingtoreligiousgovernment  within 
itself ;  and  is  in  no  respect  subject 
or  accountable  to  other  churches. 

Though  the  Episcopalians  con- 
tend that  there  is  not  a  shadow  of 
the  independent  discipline  to  be 
found  either  in  the  Bible  or  the 
primitive  church,  the  independents, 
on  the  contrary,  believe  that  it  is 
most  clearly  to  be  deduced  from  the 
practice  of  the  apostles  in  planting 
the  first  churches.  See  Church 
Congregational,  and  Episco- 
pacy. The  Independents,  how- 
ever, were  not  distinguished  as  a 
body  till  the  time  of  queen  Eliza- 
beth. The  hierarchy  established  by 
that  princess  in  the  churches  of  her 
dominions,  the  vestments  worn  by 
the  clergy  in  the  celebration  of  di- 
vine worship,  the  book  of  Common 
Prayer,  and,  above  all,  the  sign  of 
the  cross  used  in  the  administration 
of  baptism,  were  very  offensive  to 
many  of  her  subjects,  who,  during 
the  persecutions  of  the  former  reign, 
had  taken  refuge  among  the  Pro- 
testants of  Germany  and  Geneva. 
These  men  thought  that  the  church 
of  England  resembled  in  too  many 
particulars  the  anti-christian  church 
of  Rome :  they  therefore  called 
pei'petually  for  a  more  thorough  re- 
formation, and  a  purer  worship. 
From  this  circumstance  they  were 
stigmatised  with  the  general  name 
of  Puntansy  as  the  followers  of 
Novatian  had  been  in  the  ancient 
church.  See  Novatians.  Eliza- 
beth M'-as  not  disposed  to  comply 
with  their  demands  j  and  it  is  diffi- 
cult to  say  what  miglit'  have  been 
the  issue  of  the  contest,  had  the  Pu- 


ritans been  untted  among  themselves 
in  sentiments,  views,  and  measures. 
But  the  case  was  quite  otherwise  : 
that  large  body,  composed  of  persons 
of  different  ranks,  characters,  opini- 
ons, and  intentions,  and  unanimous 
in  nothing  but  their  antipathy  to  the 
established  church,  was  all  of  a  sud- 
den divided  into  a  variety  of  sects. 
Of  these,  the  most  famous  was  that 
which  was  formed  about  the  year 
1581,  by  Robert  Brown,  a  man  in- 
sinuating in  his  manners,  but  un- 
steady and  inconsistent  in  his  views 
and  notions  of  men  and  things. 
Brown  was  for  dividing  the  whole 
body  of  the  faithful  into  separate 
societies,  or  congregations ;  and 
maintained,  that  such  a  number  of 
persons  as  could  be  contained  in  an 
ordinary  place  of  worship  ought  to 
be  considered  as  a  churchy  and  enjoy 
all  the  rights  and  privileges  that  are 
competent  to  an  ecclesiastical  com- 
munity. These  small  societies  he 
pronounced  independent^  jure  divi- 
KOy  and  entirely  exempt  from  the 
jurisdiction  of  the  bishop,  in  whose 
hands  the  court  had  placed  the  reins 
of  spiritual  government ;  and  also 
from  that  of  presbyteries  and  synods, 
which  the  Puritans  regarded  as  the 
supreme  visible  sources  of  ecclesi- 
astical authority.  But  as  we  have 
given  an  account  of  the  general 
opinions  and  discipline  of  the 
Brownists,  we  need  not  enumerate 
them  here,  but,  must  beg  the  reader 
to  refer  to  that  article.  The  zeal 
with  which  Brown  and  his  associates 
maintained  and  propagated  his  no- 
tions, was,  in  a  high  degree,  in- 
temperate and  extravagant.  He 
affirmed  that  all  communion  was  to 
be  broken  off  with  those  religious 
societies  that  were  founded  uoon  a 


IN  D 


409 


IND 


different  plan  from  his  j  and  treat- 
ed more  especially  the  church  of 
England  as  a  spurious  church, 
whose  ministers  were  unlawfully 
ordained;  whose  discipline  was  po- 
pish and  anti-christian  ;  and  whose 
sacraments  and  institutions  were 
destitute  of  all  efficacy  and  virtue. 
His  followers  not  being  able  to" 
endure  the  severe  treatment  which 
they  met  with  from  an  administra- 
tion that  was  not  distinguished  for 
its  mildness  and  indulgence,  re- 
tired into  the  Netherlands,  and 
founded  churches  at  Middlebourg, 
Amsterdam,  and-  Leyden.  Their 
founder,  however,  returned  into 
England,  renounced  his  principles 
of  separation,  and  took  orders  in 
the  established  church.  The  Pu- 
ritan exiles  whom  he  thus  aban- 
doned disagreed  among  themselves, 
were  split  into  parties,  and  their 
affairs  declined  from  day  to  day. 
This  engaged  the  wiser  part  of 
them  to  mitigate  the  severity  of 
their  founder's  plan,  and  to  soften 
the  rigour  of  his  uncharitable  de- 
cisions. 

The  person  who  had  the  chief 
merit  of  bringing  about  this  re- 
formation was  one  of  their  pas- 
tors, of  the  name  of  Robinson  ;  a 
man  who  had  much  of  the  solemn 
piety  of  the  times,  and  no  inconsi- 
derable portion  of  learning.  This 
well-meaning  reformer,  perceiving 
the  defects  that  reigned  in  the 
discipline  of  Brown,  and  in  the 
spirit  and  temper  of  his  followers, 
employed  his  zeal  and  diligence  in 
correcting  them,  and  in  new  mo- 
delling the  society  in  such  a  man- 
ner as  to  render  it  less  odious  to 
his  adversaries,  and  less  liable  to 
the    just   censure    of    those    true 

Vol.  I.  SG 


Christians  who  look  upon  charity 
as  the  end  of  the  commandments. 
Hitherto  the  sect  had  been  called 
Brownists  ;  but  Robinson  having 
in  his  apology  affirmed  that  all 
Christian  congregations  were  so 
many  independent  religious  socie- 
ties, that  had  a  right  to  be  go- 
verned by  their  own  laws,  inde- 
pendent of  any  farther  or  foreign 
jurisdiction,  the  sect  was  hence- 
forth called  Independents,  of  which 
the  apologist  was  considered  as  the 
founder. 

The  first  independent  or  con- 
gregational church  in  England  was 
established  by  a  Mr.  Jacob,  in  the 
year  1616.  Mr.  Jacob,  who  had 
fled  from  the  persecution  of  bishop 
Bancroft,  going  to  Holland,  and 
conversing  with  Mr.Robinson,  em- 
braced his  sentiments  respecting 
church  discipline.  Some  time  af- 
ter, returning  to  England,  and 
having  imparted  his  design  of  set- 
1  ting  up  a  separate  congregation, 
like  those  in  Holland,  to  the  most 
learned  Puritans  of  those  times,  it 
was  not  condemned  as  unlawful, 
considering  there  was  no  prospect 
of  a  national  reformation.  « Mr. 
Jacob,  therefore,  having  summon- 
ed several  of  his  friends  together, 
and  having  obtained  their  consent 
to  unite  in  church  fellowship  for 
enjoying  the  ordinances  of  Christ 
in  the  purest  manner,  they  laid 
the  foundation  of  the  first  inde- 
pendent church  in  England  in  the 
following  way.  Having  observed 
a  day  of  solemn  fasting  and  prayer 
for  a  blessing  upon  their  undertak- 
ing, towards  the  close  of  the  so- 
lemnity, each  of  them  made  an 
open  confession  of  their  faith  in 
Christ  J  and  then,  standing  togc- 


IND 


410 


IND 


ther,  they  joined  hands,  and  so- 
lemnly covenanted  with  each  other, 
in  the  presence  of  Almighty  God, 
to  walk  together  in  all  God's  ways 
and  ordinances,  according  as  he 
had  already  revealed,  or  should 
farther  make  known  to  them.  Mr. 
Jacob  was  then  chosen  pastor  by 
the  suffrage  of  the  brotherhood  ; 
and  others  were  appointed  to  the 
office  of  deacons,  with  fasting  and 
prayer,  and  imposition  of  hands. 

The  Independents  were  much 
more  commendable  than  the 
Brownists :  they  surpassed  them, 
both  in  the  moderation  of  their 
sentiments  and  in  the  order  of 
their  discipline.  They  did  not, 
like  Brown,  pour  forth  bitter  and 
uncharitable  invectives  against  the 
churches  which  were  governed 
by  rules  entirely  different  from 
their's,  nor  pronounce  them,  on 
that  account,  unworthy  of  the 
christian  name.  On  the  contrary, 
though  they  considered  their  own 
form  of  ecclesiastical  government 
as  of  divine  institution,  and  as 
originally  introduced  by  the  au- 
thority of  the  apostles,  nay,  by 
the  apostles  themselves,  they  had 
yet  candour  and  charity  enough 
to  acknowledge,  that  true  religion 
and  solid  piety  miglit  flourish  in 
those  communities  which  were 
under  the  jurisdiction  of  bishops, 
or  the  government  of  synods  and 
presbyteries.  They  were  also 
much  more  attentive  than  the 
Brownists  in  keeping  on  foot  a 
reguiar  ministry  in  their  commu- 
nities ;  for,  vrhile  the  latter  allow- 
ed promiscuously  all  ranks  and  or- 
ders of  men  to  teach  in  public, 
the  Independents  had,-  and  still 
have,  a  certain  number  of  mini&r 


ters  chosen  respectively  by  the  con- 
gregations where  they  are  fixed  j 
nor  is  it  common  for  any  person 
among  them  to  speak  in  public 
before  he  has  submitted  to  a  pro- 
per examination  of  his  capacity 
and  talents,  and  been  approved 
of  by  the  heads  of  the  congre- 
gation. 

From  1642,  the  Independents 
are  very  frequently  mentioned  in 
the  English  annals.  The  charge 
alleged  against  them  by  Rapin  (in 
his  History  of  England,  vol.  ii. 
p.  514,  fol.  ed.),  that  they  could 
not  so  much  as  endure  ordinary 
ministers  in  the  church,  &c.  is 
groundless.  He  was  led  into  this 
mistake  by  confounding  the  In- 
dependents with  the  Brownists. 
Other  charges,  no  less  unjustifia- 
ble, have  been  urged  against  the 
Independents  by  this  celebrated 
historian  and  others.  Rapin  says, 
that  they  abhorred  monarchy,  and 
approved  of  a  republican  govern- 
ment :  this  might  have  been  true 
with  regard  to  many  persons  among 
them,  in  common  with  other  sects; 
but  it  does  not  appear,  from  any 
of  their  public  writings,  that  re- 
publican principles  formed  their 
distinguishing  characteristic  ;  on 
the  contrary,  in  a  public  memori- 
al drawn  up  by  them  in  1 647,  they 
declare,  that  they  do  not  disapprove 
of  any  form  of  civil  government, 
but  do  freely  acknowledge  that  a 
kingly  government,  bounded  by 
just  and  wholesome  laws,  is  al- 
lowed by  God,  and  also  a  good 
accommodation  unto  men.  The 
Independents,  however,  have  been 
generally  ranked  among  the  re- 
gicides, and  charged  with  the 
death  of  Charles  I.  Whether  this 


IND 


411 


IND 


fact  be  admitted  or  denied,  no 
conclusion  can  be  fairly  drawn 
from  the  greater  prevalence  of  re- 
publican principles,  or  from  violent 
proceedings  at  that  period,  that 
can  affect  the  distinguishing  te- 
nets and  conduct  of  the  Independ- 
ents in  our  times.  It  is  certain 
that  the  present  Independents 
are  steady  friends  to  a  limited 
nT,onarchy.  Rapin  is  farther  mis- 
taken vi'hen  he  represents  the  re- 
ligious principles  of  the  English 
Independents  as  contrary  to  those 
of  all  the  rest  of  the  world.  It 
appears  from  two  confessions  of 
faith,  one  composed  by  Robinson 
in  behalf  of  the  English  Inde- 
pendents in  Holland,  and  pub- 
lished at  Leyden  in  1619,  en- 
titled. Apologia  pro  Exulibius  An- 
glis^  qui  Brow  nisi  a  vulgo  appellan- 
tur ;  and  another  drawn  up  in 
London  in  1658,  by  the  principal 
members  of  this  community  in 
England,  entitled,  "  A  Declara- 
tion of  the  Faith  and  Order  own- 
ed and  practised  by  the  Congre- 
gational Churches  in  England, 
agreed  upon  and  consented  unto 
by  their  Elders  and  Messengers, 
in  their  Meeting  at  the  Savoy,  Oct. 
12,  1658,"  as  well  as  from  other 
writings  of  the  Independents,  that 
they  differed  from  the  rest  of  the 
reformed  in  no  single  point  of  any 
consequence,  except  that  of  eccle- 
siastical government ;  and  their 
religious  doctrines  were  almost 
entirely  the  same  with  those 
adopted  by  the  church  of  Geneva. 
During  the  administration  of 
Cromwell,  the  Independents  ac- 
quired very  considerable  reputa- 
tion and  influence  ;  and  he  made 
u=?e  of    them  as  a    check    to   the 


1  ambition  of  the  Presbyterians, 
who  aimed  at  a  very  high  de- 
gree of  ecclesiastical  power,  and 
who  had  succeeded,  soon  after  the 
elevation  of  Cromwell,  in  obtain- 
ing a  parliamentary  establishment 
of  their  own  church  government. 
But  after  the  restoration,  their 
cause  decJined;  and  in  1691  they 
entered  into  an  association  with 
the  Presbyterians  residing  in  and 
about  London,  comprised  in  nine 
articles,  that  tended  to  the  main- 
tenance of  their  respective  institu- 
tions. These  may  be,  found  in 
the  second  volume  of  "Whiston's 
Memoirs,  and  the  substance  of 
them  in  Mosheim.  At  this  time 
the  Independents  and  Presbyte- 
rians, called  from  this  association 
the  United  Brethren^  were  agreed 
with  regard  to  doctrines,  being  ge- 
nerally Calvinists,  and  differed 
only  with  respect  to  ecclesiastical 
discipline.  But  at  present,  though 
the  English  Independents  and 
Presbyterians  form  two  distinct 
parties  of  Protestant  Dissenters, 
they  are  distinguished  by  very  tri- 
fling differences  with  regard  to 
church  government,  and  the  de- 
nominations are  more  arbitrarily 
used  to  comprehend  those  who 
differ  in  theological  opinions. 
The  Independents  are  generally 
more  attached  to  Calvinism  than 
the  Presbyterians-  Independent- 
ism  is  peculiar  to  Great  Britain, 
the  United  States,  and  the  Bata- 
vian  Republic.  It  was  carried 
first  to  the  American  colonies  in 
1G20,  and  by  successive  Puritan 
emigrants,  in  1629  and  1633, 
from  England.  One  Morel,  in 
the  sixteenth  century,  endeavour- 
ed to  .introduce  it   into    France  ; 


D 


412 


IND 


but  it  was  condemned  at  the  Synod 
of  Rochelle,  where  Bez a  presided; 
and  again  at  the  synod  of  Ro- 
chelle, in  1644. 

Many  of  the  Independents  reject 
the  use  of  all  creeds  and  confes- 
sions drawn  up  by  fallible  men, 
though  they  require  of  their 
teachers  a  declaration  of  their  be- 
lief in  the  gospel  and  its  various 
doctrines,  and  their  adherence  to 
the  scriptures  as  the  sole  standard 
of  faith  and  practice.  They  at- 
tribute no  virtue  whatever  to  the 
rite  of  ordination,  upon  which 
some  other  churches  lay  so  much 
stress.  According  to  them,  the 
qualifications  which  constitute  a 
regular  minister  of  the  New  Tes- 
tament are,  a  firm  belief  in  the 
gospel,  a  principle  of  sincere  and 
unaffected  piety,  a  competent 
stock  of  knowledge,  a  capacity 
for  leading  devotion  and  commu- 
nicating instruction,  a  serious  in- 
clination to  engage  in  the  import- 
ant em.ployment  of  promoting 
the  everlasting  salvation  of  man- 
kind, and  ordinarily  an  invitation 
to  the  pastoral  office  from  some 
particular  society  of  Christians. 
Where  these  things  concur,  they 
consider  a  person  as  fitted  and 
authorized  for  the  discharge  of 
every  duty  which  belongs  to  the 
ministerial  function  ;  and  they  be- 
lieve that  the  imposition  of  hands 
of  bishops  or  presbyters  would 
convey  to  him  no  powers  or  pre- 
rogatives of  which  he  was  not  be- 
fore possessed.  But  though  they 
attribute  no  virtue  to  ordination, 
as  conveying  any  new  powers,  yet 
they  hold  v/ith  and  practise  it. 
Many  of  them,  indeed,  suppose 
that  the  essence  of  ordination  does 


not  lie  in  the  act  of  the  ministers 
who  assist,  but  in  the  choice  and 
call  of  the  people,  and  the  candi- 
date's acceptance  of  that  [call  j  so 
j  that  their  ordination  may  be  con- 
sidered only  as  a  public  decla- 
ration of  that  agreement.  See 
Qrdination.  They  consider  it 
as  their  right  to  choose  their  own 
ministers  and  deacons.  They  own 
no  man  as  head  of  the  church. 
They  disallow  of  parochial  and 
provincial  subordination  ;  but 
though  they  do  not  think  it  nc-~" 
cessary  to  assemble  synods,  yet,  if 
any  be  held,  they  look  upon  their 
resolutions  as  prudential  counsels, 
but  not  as  decisions  to  which  they 
are  obliged  to  conform.  They 
consider  the  scriptures  as  the  only 
criterion  of  truth.  Their  worship 
is  conducted  in  a  decent,  plain,  and 
simple  manner,  without  the  osten- 
tation of  form  and  the  vain  pomp 
of  ceremony. 

The  congregations  of  the  Inde- 
pendents are  very  numerous,  both 
in  England  and  America,  and 
some  of  them  very  respectable. 
This  denomination  has  produced 
many  characters  as  eminent  for 
learning  and  piety  as  any  church 
in  Christendom  j  whose  works,  no 
doubt,  will  reflect  lasting  honour 
on  their  characters  and  abilities. 
See  Church  Congregational  ; 
Nonconformists,  and  books  un- 
der those  articles. 

INDEX  EXPUR  GATOR Y,  a 
catalogue  of  prohibited  books  in  the 
church  of  Rome.  The  first  cata- 
logues of  this  kind  were  made  by 
the  inquisitors,  -and  these  were 
afterwards  approved  of  by  the 
i  council  of  Trent,  -after  some  al- 
!  teration  was  made  in  them  by  way 


IND 


413 


T  "NT  T^ 


of  retrenchment  or  addition.  Thus 
an  index  of  heretical  books  being 
formed,  it  was  confirmed  by  a 
bull  of  Clement  VIII,  in  1595, 
and  printed  with  several  introduc- 
tory rules ;  by  the  fourth  of  which, 
the  use  of  the  scriptures  in  the 
vulgar  tongue  is  forbidden  to  all 
persons  without  a  particular  li- 
cence ;  and  by  the  tenth  rule  it  is 
ordained,  that  no  book  shall  be 
printed  at  Rome  without  the  ap- 
probation of  the  pope's  vicar,  or 
some  person  delegated  by  the 
pope  ;  nor  in  any  other  places, 
unless  allowed  by  the  bishop  of 
the  diocese,  or  some  person  de- 
puted by  him,  or  by  the  inquisi- 
tor of  heretical  pravity.  The 
Trent  index  being  thus  published, 
Philip  II  of  Spain  ordered  another 
to  be  printed  at  Antwerp  in  1571, 
with  ,  considerable  enlargements. 
Another  index  was  published  in 
Spain  in  1584,  a  copy  of  which 
was  snatched  out  of  the  fire  when 
the  English  plundered  Cadiz.  Af- 
terwards there  were  several  e"x- 
purgatory  indexes  printed  at  Rome 
and  Naples,  and  particularly  in 
Spain. 

INDIGNATION,  a  strong  dis- 
approbation of  mind,  excited  by 
something  flagitious  in  the  con- 
duct of  another.  It  does  not, 
as  Mr.  Cogan  observes,  always 
suppose  that  excess  of  depravity 
which  alone  is  capable  of  com- 
mitting deeds  of  horror.  Indig- 
nation always  refers  to  culpabi- 
lity of  conduct,  and  cannot,  like 
the  passion  of  horror,  be  extend- 
ed to  distress  either  of  |?ody  or 
mind.  It  is.  produced  by  acts  of 
treachery,  abuse  of  conndsncc, 
base  ingratitude,    &c,,  which  we 


cannot  contemplate  without  being 
provoked  to  anger,  and  feeling  a 
generous  resentment. 

INDULGENCES,  in  the  Ro- 
mish church,  are  a  remission  of  the 
punishment  due  to  sin,  granted  by 
the  church,  and  supposed  to  save 
the  sinner  from  purgatory. 

According  to  the  doctrine  of 
the  Romish  church,  all  the  good 
works  of  the  saints,  over  and 
above  those  which  were  necessary 
towards  their  own  justification, 
are  deposited,  together  with  the 
infinite  merits  of  Jesus  Christ,  in 
one  inexhaustible  treasury.  The 
keys  of  this  v/erc  committed  to 
St.  Peter,  and  to  his  successors, 
the  popes,  who  may  open  it  at 
pleasure  ;  and,  by  transferring  a 
portion  of  this  superabundant 
merit  to  any  particular  person 
for  a  sum  of  money,  may  convey 
to  him  either  the  pardon  of  his 
own  sins,  or  a  release  for  any  one 
in  whom  he  is  interested  from  the 
pains  of  purgatory.  Such  indul- 
gences were  first  invented  in  the 
eleventh  century,  by  Urban  II, 
as  a  recompence  for  those  v/ho 
went  in  person  upon  the  glorious 
enterprise  of  conquering  the  Holy 
Land.  They  were  afterwards 
granted  to  those  who  hired  a 
soldier  for  that  purpose  ;  and  in 
process  of  time  were  bestowed  on 
such  as  gave  money  for  accom- 
plishing any  pious  work  enjoined 
by  the  pope.  The  power  of 
granting  indulgences  has  been 
greatly  abused  in  the  church  of 
Rome.  Pope  Leo  X,  in  order 
to  carry  on  the  magnificent  struc- 
ture of  St.  Peter's,  at  Rome,  pub- 
lished indulgences,  and  a  plenary 
remission    to   all   such   as    -'^/^uM 


414 


IND 


contribute  money  towards  it. ,, 
Finding  the  project  take,  he  grant-  i 
ed  to  Albert,  elector  of  Mentz,  I 
and  archbishop  of  Magdeburg,  ii 
the  benefit  of  the  indulgences  of 
Saxony,  and  the  neighbouring 
parts,  and  farmed  out  those  of 
other  countries  to  the  highest  bid- 
ders -,  who,  to  make  the  best  of 
their  bargain,  procured  the  ablest 
preachers  to  cry  up  the  value 
of  the  ware.  The  form  of  these 
indulgences  was  as  follows : — 
"  May  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ 
have  mercy  upon  thee,  and  ab- 
solve thee  by  the  merits  of  his 
most  holy  passion.  And  I,  by  his 
authority,  that  of  his  blessed  apos- 
tles, Peter  and  Paul,  and  of  the 
most  holy  pope,  granted  and  com- 
mitted to  me  in  these  parts,  do 
absolve  thee,  first  from  all  ecclesi- 
astical censures,  in  whatever  man- 
ner they  have  been  incurred  ;  then 
from  all  thy  sins,  transgressions, 
and  excesses,  how  enormous  so- 
ever they  may  be  ;  even  from  such 
as  are  reserved  for  the  cognizance 
of  the  holy  see,  and  as  far  as  the 
keys  of  the  holy  church  extend, 
I  remit  to  you  all  punishment 
which  you  deserve  in  purgatory 
on  their  account ;  and  I  restore 
you  to  the  holy  sacraments  of  ths 
church,  to  the  unity  of  the  faithful, 
and  to  that  innocence  and  purity 
which  you  possessed  at  baptism  : 
so  that  when  you  die,  the  gates 
of  punishment  shall  be  shut,  and 
the  gates  of  the  paradise  of  de- 
light shall  be  opened ;  and  if 
you  shall  not  die  at  present,  this 
grace  shall  remain  in  full  force  \ 
when  you  are  at  the  point  of 
death.  In  the  name  of  the  Fa- 
ther, the  Son,  and  the  Holy 
Ghost,"      According  to   a  book, 


called  the  Tax  of  the  sacred  Ro- 
man Chancery,  in  which  are  con- 
tained the  exact  sums  to  be  levied 
for  the  pardon  of  each  particular 
sin,  we  find  some  of  the  fees  to 
be  thus  : 

s.     d. 
For  procuring  abortion  .  .   ,  7      6 

For  simony 10      6 

For  sacrilege 10      6 

For  taking  a  false  oath  in  a 

criminal  case 9       0 

For  robbing 12      0 

For   burning   a   neighbour's 

house 12      O 

For  defiling  a  virgin  ....  9  O 
For  lying  with  a  mother, 

sister,  &c 7      6 

For  murdering  a  layman  .  .  7  6 
For  keeping  a  concubine  .10  6 
For  laying  violent  hands  on 

a  clergyman  ......   10      6 

And  so  on. 

The  terms  in  which  the  retailers 
of  indulgences  described  their 
benefits,  and  the  necessity  of 
purchasing  them,  were  so  extra- 
vagant, that  they  appear  almost 
incredible.  If  any  man,  said  they, 
purchase  letters  of  indulgence, 
his  soul  may  rest  secure  with  re- 
spect to  its  salvation.  The  souls 
confined  in  purgatory,  for  whose 
redemption  indulgences  are  pur- 
chased, as  soon  as  the  money 
tinkles  in  the  chest,  instantly 
escape  from  that  place  of  torment, 
and  ascend  into  heaven.  That 
the  efficacy  of  indulgences  was  so 
great,  that  the  most  heinous  sins, 
even  if  one  should  violate  (which 
was  impossible)  theMotherof  God, 
would  be  remitted  and  expiated 
by  them,  and  the  person  be  freed 
both  from  punishment  and  guilt. 
That  this  was  the  unspeakable  gift 
of  God,  in  order  to  reconcile  man 


IND 


415 


Il^F 


to  himself.  [That  the  cross  erected 
by  the  preachers  of  indulgences 
was  equally  efBcacIous  with  the 
cross  of  Christ  itself.  "  Lo,"  said 
they,  "  the  heavens  are  open  :  if 
you  enter  not  now,  M'hen  will 
you  enter  ?  For  twelvepence  you 
may  redeem  the  soul  of  your  fa- 
ther out  of  purgatory ;  and  are 
you  so  ungrateful  that  you  will 
not  rescue  the  soul  of  your  parent 
from  torment  ?  If  you  had  but  one 
coat,  you  ought  to  strip  yourself 
instantly,  and  sell  it,  in  order  to 
purchase  such  benefit,"  &c.  It 
was  this  great  abuse  of  indulgences 
that  contributed  not  a  little  to  the 
reformation  of  religion  in  Ger- 
many, where  Martin  Luther  be- 
gan first  to  declaim  against  the 
preachers  of  indulgences,  and  af- 
terwards against  indulgences  them- 
selves :  since  that  time  the  popes 
have  been  more  sparing  in  the  ex- 
ercise of  this  power  •,  although  It  is 
said  they  still  carry  on  a  great 
trade  with  them  to  the  Indies, 
where  they  are  purchased  at  two 
rials  a  piece,  and  sometimes  more. 
We  are  told  also  that  a  gentleman 
not  long  since  being  at  Naples,  In 
order  that  he  might  be  fully  as- 
certained respecting  Indulgences, 
went  to  the  office,  and  for  two  se- 
quins purchased  a  plenary  remis- 
sion of  all  sins  for  himself  and  any 
two  other  persons  of  his  friends  or 
relations,  whose  names  he  was  em- 
powered to  Insert.  Haweis's  Church 
HisLyVol.  HI,  p.  147;  Smiths  Errors 
of  the  Church  of  Rome ;  Watson's 
Theol.  Tracts^  vol.  v,  p.  274 ;  Mo- 
sheim's  Ecc.  Hist.,  vol.  I,  p.  594, 
quarto. 

INDUSTRY,    diligence,   con- 
stant application  of  the  mind,  or  ex- 


ercise of   tlie  body.      See  Dili- 
gence, and  Idleness. 

INDWELLING  SCHEME,  a 
scheme  which  derives  its  name 
from  that  passage  In  Col.  li,  9, 
"  In  him  dwelleth  all  the  fulness 
of  the  Godhead  bodily,"  which,  ac- 
cording to  some,  asserts  the  doc- 
trine of  Christ's  consisting  of  two 
beings;  one  the  self-existent  Crea- 
tor, and  the  other  a  creature  made 
into  one  person  by  an  ineffable 
union  and  i72divelling,  which  ren- 
ders the  same  attributes  and  ho- 
nours equally  applicable  to  b^ttTT""'*'^ ' 
See  Pre-existence.  Dr.  X)w- 
erCs  Glory  of  Christy  p.  36 S,  569, 
London  ed.,  1679;  a  Sermon  en- 
titled "  The  True  Christ  of  God 
above  the  false  Christ  of  Men."  Ip- 
swich, 1799;  Watts' s  Glory  of 
Christ,  p.  6-203  ;  Adams'' s  Vieiv  of 
Religions,   p.  267. 

INFALLIBILITY,  the  quality 
of  not  being  subject  to  be  deceived 
or  mistaken. 

The  InfaUihility  of  the  church  of 
Rome  has  been  one  of  the  great 
controversies  between  the  Pro- 
testants and  Papists.  By  this  in- 
fallibility, it  Is  understood  that 
she  cannot  at  any  time  cease  to  be  . 
orthodox  in  her  doctrine,  or  fall 
into  any  pernicious  errors ;  but 
that  she  is  constituted,  by  divine 
authority,  the  judge  of  all  contro- 
versies of  religion,  and  that  all 
Christians  are  obliged  to  acquiesce 
In  her  decisions.  This  Is  the  chain 
which  keeps  Its  members  fast  bound 
to  its  communion ;  the  charm 
which  retains  them  within  its 
magic  circle ;  the  opiate  which 
lays  asleep  all  their  doubts  and 
difficulties  :  It  is  likewise  the  mag- 
net which  attracts    the    desultory 


INF 


416 


INF 


and  unstable  in  other  persuasions 
within  the  sphere  of  poperty,  the 
foundation  of  its  whole  super- 
structure, the  cement  of  all  its 
parts,  and  its  fence  and  fortress 
ap-ainst  all  inroads  and  attacks. 

O 

Under  the  idea  of  this  infalli- 
biliti}^  the  church  of  Rome  claims, 
1.  To  determine  what  books  are 
and  v>7hat  are  not  canonical,  and 
to  oblige  all  Christians  to  receive 
or  reject  them  accordingly. — 2.  To 
communicate  authority  to  the 
scripture  ;  or,  in  other  words,  that 
the  scripture  (quoad  nos),  as  to  us, 
rec'iives  its  authority  from  her. — 
3.  To  assign  and  fix  the  sense  of 
scripture,  which  all  Christians  are 
submissively  to  receive. — 4.  To 
decree  as  necessary  to  salvation 
whatever  she  judges  so,  although 
not  contained  in  scripture. — 5.  To 
decide  all  controversies  respecting 
matters  of  faith.  These  are  the 
claims  to  which  the  church  of 
Rome  pretends,  but  which  we 
shall  not  here  attempt  to  refute, 
because  any  man,  v/ith  the  Bible  in 
his  hand,  and  a  little  common 
sense,  will  easily  see  that  they  are 
all  founded  upon  ignorance,  su- 
perstition, and  error.  It  is  not 
a  little  remarkable,  however,  that 
the  Roman  Catholics  themselves 
are  much  divided  as  to  the  seat  of 
this  infallibility,  and  which,  in- 
deed, may  be  considered  as  a  satis- 
factory proof  that  no  such  privilege 
exists  in  the  church.  For  is  it 
consistent  with  reason  to  think  that 
God  would  have  imparted  so  ex- 
traordinary a  gift  to  prevent  er- 
rors and  dissensions  in  the  church, 
and  yet  have  left  aa  additional 
cause  of  error  and  dissension,  viz. 
the   uncertainty  of   the    place    of 


its  abode  ?  No,  surely. — -Some 
place  this  infallibility  in  the  pope 
or  bishop  of  Rome ;  some  in  a  ge- 
neral council ;  others  in  neither 
pope  nor  council  separately,  but 
in  both  conjointly ;  whilst  others 
are  said  to  place  it  in  the  church  dif- 
fusive, or  in  all  churches  through- 
out the  world.  But  that  it  could 
not  be  deposited  in  the  pope  is 
evident,  for  many  popes  have  led 
the  most  enormously  wicked  and 
abandoned  lives :  some  have  been 
heretics,  and  on  that  account  cen- 
sured and  deposed,  and  therefore 
could  not  have  been  infallible. 
That  it  could  not  be  placed  in  a 
general  council  is  as  evident ;  for 
general  councils  have  actually 
erred.  Neither  could  it  be  placed 
in  the  pope  and  council  conjointly  ; 
for  two  fallibles  could  not  make 
one  infallible  any  more  than  two 
ciphers  conld  make  an  integer. 
To  say  that  it  is  lodged  in  the 
church  universal  or  diffusive,  is 
equally  as  erroneous;  for  this 
would  be  useless  and  insignificant, 
because  it  could  never  be  exer- 
cised. The  whole  church  could 
not  meet  to  make  decrees,  or  to 
choose  representatives,  or  to  de- 
liver their  sentiments  on  any  ques- 
tion started  ;  and,  less  than  all, 
would  not  be  the  whole  church, 
and  so  could  not  claim  that  pri- 
vilege. 

The  most  general  opinion,  how- 
ever, it  is  said,  is  that  of  its  being 
seated  in  a  pope  and  general  coun- 
cil. The  advocates  for  this  opi- 
nion consider  the  pope  as  the 
vicar  of  Christ,  head  of  the  church, 
and  centre  of  unity;  and  there- 
fore conclude  that  his  concur- 
rence   with    and    approbation  of 


INF 


417 


INF 


the  decrees  of  a  general  council  are 
necessary,  and  sufficient  to  aiFord 
it  an  indispensable  sanction  and 
plenary  authority.  A  general  coun- 
cil they  regard  as  the  church  re- 
presentative, and  suppose  that 
nothing  can  be  wanting  to  ascer- 
tain the  truth  of  any  controversial 
point,  when  the  pretended  head 
of  the  church  and  its  members,  as- 
sembled in  their  supposed  repre- 
sentatives, mutually  concur  and 
coincide  in  judicial  definitions  and 
decrees,  but  that  infallibility  at- 
tends their  coalition  and  conjunc- 
tion in  all  their  determinations. 

Every  impartial  person,  who 
considers  this  subject  with  the 
least  degree  of  attention,  must 
clearly  perceive  that  neither  any 
individual  or  body  of  Christians 
have  any  ground  from  reason  or 
scripture  for  pretending  to  infal- 
libility. It  is  evidently  the  attri- 
bute,of  the  Supreme  Being  alone, 
which  we  have  all  the  foundation 
imaginable  to  conclude  he  has 
not  communicated  to  any  mortal, 
or  associations  of  mortals.  The 
human  being  who  challenges  in- 
fallibility seems  to  imitate  the 
pride  and  presumption  of  Lucifer, 
when  he  said, — I  will  ascend,  an<l 
will  be  like  the  Most  High.  A 
claim  to  it  was  unheard  of  in  the 
primitive  and  purest  ages  of  the 
church ;  but  became,  after  that 
period,  the  arrogant  pretension  of 
papal  ambition.  History  plainly 
informs  us,  that  the  bishops  of 
Home,  on  the  declension  of  the 
western  Roman  empire,  began  to 
put  in  their  claim  of  being  the  su- 
preme and  infallible  heads  of  the 
Christian  church  ;  which  they  at 
length   established   by  their  deep 

Vol.  I.  5  H 


policy  and  unremitting  efForts  j  by 
the  concurrence  of  fortunate  cir- 
cumstances j  by  the  advantages 
which  they  reaped  from  the  ne- 
cessities of  some  princes,  and  the 
superstition  of  others ;  and  by  the 
general  and  excessive  credulity  of 
the  people.  However,  when  they 
had  grossly  abused  this  absurd 
pretension,  and  comrnitted  various 
acts  of  injustice,  tyranny,  and  cru- 
elty; when  the  blind  veneration 
for  the  papal  dignity  had  been 
greatly  diminished  by  the  long  and 
scandalous  schism  occasioned  by 
contending  popes  ;  when  these  had 
been  for  a  considerable  time  roam- 
ing about  Europe,  fawning  on 
princes,  squeezing  their  adherents, 
and  cursing  their  rivals  ,  and  when 
the  councils  of  Constance  and  Ba- 
sil had  challenged  and  exercised 
the  right  of  deposing  and  electing 
the  bishops  of  Rome,  then  their 
pretensions  to  infallibility  were 
called  in  question,  and  the  world 
discovered  that  councils  were  a 
jurisdiction  superior  to  that  of  the 
towering  pontiffs.  Then  it  was 
that  this  infallibility  was  transfer- 
red by  many  divines  from  popes 
to  general  councils,  and  the  opi- 
nion of  the  soiperior  authority  o£ 
a  council  above  that  of  a  pope 
spread  vastly,  especially  under  the 
profligate  pontificate  of  Alexander 
VI,  and  the  martial  one  of  Julius 
II.  The  popes  were  thought  by 
numbers  to  be  too  unworthy  pos- 
sessors of  so  rich  a  jewel ;  at  the 
same  time  it  appeared  to  be  of  too 
great  a  value,  and  of  too  extensive 
consequence  to  be  parted  with  en- 
tirely. It  was,  therefore,  by  the 
major  part  of  the  Roman  church, 
deposited  with,  or  made  the  pro- 


INF 


418 


INF 


perty  of  general  councils,  either  |1 
solely  or  conjointly  with  the  pope,  j 
See  Smith's  Errors  of  the  Church  of 
Rome  detected ;  and  list  of  writers 
under  article  Popery. 

INFANT  COMMUNION,  the 
admission  of  infants  to  the  ordinance 
of  the  Lord's  supper.  It  has  been 
debated  by  some,  whether  or  no  |j 
infants  should  be  admitted  to^tKisll 
ordinance.  One  of  the  greatest' 
advocates  for  this  practice  was 
Mr.  Peirce.  He  pleads  the  use 
of  it  even  unto  this  day  among  the 
Greeks,  and  in  the  Bohemian 
churches  till  near  the  time  of  the 
reformation  ;  but  especially  from 
the  custom  of  the  ancient  churches, 
as  it  appears  from  many  passages 
in  Photius,  Augustin,  and  Cyprian. 
But  Dr.  Doddridge  observes,  that 
Mr.  Peirce's  proof  from  the  more 
ancient  fathers  is  very  defective.  His 
arguments  from  scripture  chiefly 
depend  upon  this  general  medium  ; 
that  Christian,  succeeding  to  the 
Jews  as  God's  people,  and  being 
grafted  upon  that  stock,  their  in- 
fants have  a  right  to  all  the  pri- 
vileges of  which  they  are  capable, 
till  forfeited  by  some  immoralities; 
and  consequently  have  a  right  to 
partake  of  this  ordinance,  as  the 
Jewish  children  had  to  eat  of  the 
passover  and  other  sacrifices :  be- 
sides this,  he  pleads  those  texts 
which  speak  of  the  Lord's  supper 
as  received  by  all  Christians. 

The  most  obvious  answer  to  all 
this,  is  that  which  is  taken  from 
the  incapacity  of  infants  to  ex- 
amine themselves,  and  discern  the 
Lord's  body  ;  but  he  answers  that 
this  precept  is  only  given  to  per- 
sons capable  of  undei"Standing  and 
gpjpplying  with  ic^  as  those  which 


require  faith  in  order  to  baptism 
are  interpreted  by  the  Psedo-bap- 
tists.  As  for  his  argument  from 
the  Jewish  children  eating  the  sa- 
crifice, it  is  to  be  considered  that 
this  was  not  required  as  circum- 
cision was  :  the  males  were  not 
necessarily  brought  to  the  temple 
till  they  were  twelve  years  old, 
Luke  ii,  42.  and  the  sacrifices 
they  ate  of  were  chiefly  peace  offer- 
ingSy  which  became  the  common 
food  to  all  that  were  clean  in  the 
family,  and  were  not  looked  upon 
as  acts  of  devotion  to  such  a  de- 
gree as  our  eucharist  is  *,  though, 
indeed,  they  were  a  token  of  their 
acknowledging  the  divinity  of  that 
God  to  whom  they  had  been  of- 
fered, 1st  Cor.  X,  18.  and  even  the 
passover  was  a  commemoration  of 
a  temporal  deliverance  ;  nor  is 
there  any  reason  to  believe  that  its 
reference  to  the  Messiah  was  gene- 
rally understood  by  the  Jews. 

On  the  whole  it  is  certain  there 
would  be  more  danger  of  a  con- 
tempt arising  to  the  Lord's  supper 
from  the  admission  of  infants,  and 
of  confusion  and  trouble  to  other 
communicants;  so  that  not  being 
required  in  scripture,  it  is  much 
best  to  omit  it.  When  children 
are  grown  up  to  a  capacity  of  be- 
having decently,  they  may  soon 
be  instructed  in  the  nature  and 
design  of  the  ordinance ;  and  if 
they  appear  to  understand  it,  and 
behave  for  some  competent  time 
of  trial  in  a  manner  suitable  to 
that  profession,  it  would  probably 
be  ad"Visable  to  admit  them  to  com- 
munion though  very  young ;  which, 
by  the  way  might  be  a  good  se- 
curity against  many  of  the  snares 
to   which    youth    are   exposed.—^ 


INF 


419 


INF 


iDoddridge's  Lectures^  lect.  207; 
Peirce's  Essay  on  the  Hucharist^ 
p.  76,  &c. ;  Witsius  on  Cov.y  b.  4, 
C.  17,  §  30,  32;  J.Frid.  Mayor 
Diss,  de  Euchari.tia  Infantum;  Zor- 
mu.j'  Hist.  Eucharist.  Infantum,  p. 
1 8  ;  TheoL  and  Bib.  Mag.  Jan.  and 
April  1806. 

INFANTS,  Salvation  of.  "Va- 
rious opinions,"  says  an  acute  wri- 
ter, "concerning  the  future  state  of 
infants  have  been  adopted.  Some 
think,  all  dying  in  infancy  are  an- 
nihilated ;  for,  say  they,  infants, 
being  incapable  of  moral  good  or 
evil,  are  not  proper  objects  of  re- 
ward or  punishment.  Others  think 
that  they  share  a  fate  similar  to 
adults ;  a  part  saved,  and  a  part 
perish.  Others  affirm  all  are  saved, 
because  all  are  immortal,  and  all 
are  innocent.  Others,  perplexed 
with  these  diverse  sentiments,  think 
best  to  leave  the  subject  untouch- 
ed. Cold  comfort  to  parents  who 
bury  their  families  in  infancy  ! 
The  most  probable  opinion  seems 
to  be,  that  they  are  all  saved, 
through  the  merits  of  the  Medi- 
ator, with  an  everlasting  salvation. 
This  has  nothing  in  it  contrary  to 
the  perfections  of  God,  or  to  any 
declaration  of  the  holy  scriptures  ; 
and  it  is  highly  agreeable  to  all 
those  passages  which  affirm  where 
sin  hath  abounded,  grace  hath 
much  more  abounded.  On  these 
principles,  the  death  of  Christ  saves 
more  than  the  fall  of  Adam  lost." 
If  the  reader  be  desirous  of  exa- 
mining the  subject,  we  refer  him  to 
p.  415,  V.  ii,  Robinson's  Cdw.ul<s ; 
GUlard's  and  Williams's  Essays  on 
Infant  Salvation;  Jin  attempt  to 
elucidate  Rom,  v.  12,  by  an  ano- 
nymous writer ;  P/af-ti'-s  Ruin  ajid 


Recovery^  p.  324,  327;  Edwards  ori 
Original  Sin,  ip.  431,  434;  Dod- 
dridge's  Lect..,  lee.  168  ;  Ridgelfs 
Body  of  Div.,  V.  i,  p.  330,  to  336. 
INFIDELITY,  want  of  faith  in 
God,  or  the  disbelief  of  the  truths 
of  revelation,  and  the  great  prin- 
ciples of  religion.  If  we  enquire 
into  the  rise  of  infidelity,  we  shall 
find  it  does  not  take  its  origin  from 
the  result  of  sober  enquiry,  close 
investigation,  or  full  conviction; 
but  it  is  rather,  as  one  observes^ 
"  The  slow  production  of  a  care- 
less and  irreligious  life,  operating 
together  with  prejudices  and  erro-r 
neous  conceptions  concerning  the 
nature  of  the  leading  doctrines  of 
Christianity.  It  may,  therefore,  be 
laid  down  as  an  axiom,  that  inji~ 
delity  is^  in  general,  a  disease  of  the 
heart  more  than  of  the  understand- 
ing ;  for  we  always  find  that  infi- 
delity increases  in  proportion  as 
the  general  morals  decline.  If  we 
consider  the  nature  and  effect  of 
this  principle,  we  shall  find  that  it 
subverts  the  whole  foundation  of 
morals ;  it  tends  directly  to  the 
destruction  of  a  taste  for  moral 
excellence,  and  promotes  the 
growth  of  those  vices  which  are  the 
most  hostile  to  social  happiness, 
especially  vanity,  ferocity,  and 
unbridled  sensuality.  As  to  the 
progress  of  It,  it  is  certain  that,  of 
late  years,  it  has  made  rapid 
strides.  Lord  Herbert  did  not, 
indeed,  so  much  impugn  the  doc- 
trine or  the  morality  of  the  scrip- 
tures as  attempt  to  supersede  their 
necessity,  by  endeavouring  to  shew 
that  the  great  principles  of  the 
unity  of  God,  a  moral  government, 
and  a  future  wovld,  are  taught 
with    sufficient   clearness  by    the 


INF 


420 


INF 


light  of  nature.  Bo/ingbroh,  and 
others  of  his  successors,  advanced 
much  farther,  and  attempted  to 
invalidate  the  proofs  of  the  moral 
character  of  the  Deity,  and  con- 
sequently all  expectations  of  re- 
wards and  punishments,  leaving 
tiie  Supreme  Being  no  other  per- 
fections than  those  which  belong 
toa  first  cause,  or  Almighty  con- 
triver. After  him,  at  a  consider- 
able distance,  followed  Hume,  the 
most  aubtle  of  all,  who  boldly 
aimed  to  introduce  an  universal 
scepticism,  and  to  pour  a  more 
than  Egyptian  darkness  into  the 
whole  region  of  morals.  Since 
his  time,  sceptical  writers  have 
sprung  up  in  abundance,  and  infi- 
delity has  allured  multitudes  to  its 
standard ;  the  young  and  super- 
ficial, by  its  dexterous  sophistry  ; 
the  vain,  by  the  literary  fame  of  its 
champion  ;  and  the  profligate,  by 
the  licentiousness  of  its  principles." 
But  let  us  ask.  What  will  be  its 
£mi?  Is  there  any  thing  in  the  ge- 
nius of  this  principle  that  will 
lead  us  so  suppose  it  will  reign  tri- 
umphant ?  So  far  from  it,  we  have 
reason  to  believe  that  it  will  be 
banished  from  the  earth.  Its  in- 
consistency with  reason  •,  its  incon- 
gruity with  the  nature  of  man  ; 
its  cloudy  and  obscure  prospects  ; 
its  unsatisfying  nature  ;  its  oppo- 
sition to  the  dictates  of  conscience  •, 
its  pernicious  tendency  to  eradi- 
cate every  just  principle  from  the 
breast  of  man,  and  to  lead  the 
way  for  every  species  of  vice  and 
immorality,  shew  us  that  it  can- 
not flourish,  but  must  finally  fall. 
And,  as  Mr.  Hall  justly  observes, 
**  We  have  nothing  to  fear  ;  for, 
to  an    attentive    observer    of  the 


signs  of  the  times,  it  will  appear 
one  of  the  most  extraordinary 
phsenomena  of  this  eventful  cri- 
sis, that,  amidst  the  ravages  of 
atheism  and  infidelity,  real  reli- 
gion is  on  the  increase ;  for  while 
infidelity  is  marking  its  progress 
by  devastation  and  ruin,  by  the 
prostration  of  thrones  and  concus- 
sion of  kingdoms,  thus  appalling 
the  inhabitants  of  the  world,  and 
compelling  them  to  take  refuge 
in  the  church  of  God  ;  the  true 
sanctuary,  the  stream  of  divine 
knowledge,  unobserved,  is  flow- 
ing in  new  channels ;  winding 
its  cour-:e  among  humble  val- 
lies,  refreshing  thirsty  deserts, 
and  enriching,  with  far  other 
and  higher  blessings  than  those 
of  commerce,  the  most  distant 
climes  and  nations  ^  until,  agree- 
ably to  the  prediction  of  prophe- 
cy, the  knowledge  of  the  Lord 
shall  fill  and  cover  the  whole 
earth."  See  Hallos  admirable  Ser. 
en  Infidelity  ,•  Fuller's  Gospel  of 
Christ  its  own  Witness  ;  Bishop  Wat- 
son's Apology  for  the  Bible  ;  Wilber- 
force's  Practical  VieiVy  §  3.  ch.  7  ;. 
and  books  under  article  De- 
ism. 

INFIRMITY,  applied  to  the 
mind,  denotes  frailty,  weakness.  It 
has  been  a  question  what  may  pro- 
perly be  denominated  sins  of  in- 
firmity. 

1.  Nothing,  it  is  said,  can  be 
excused  under  that  name  which 
at  the  time  of  its  commission  is 
knoiun  to  be  a  sin. — 2.  Nothing  can. 
be  called  a  sin  of  infirmity  M'hich 
is  contrary  to  the  express  letter 
of  any  of  the  commandments. — 
3.  Nothing  will  admit  of  a  just 
and    sufficient    excuse    upon    the 


INF 


421 


INF 


account  of  infirmity  which  a  man 
beforehand  considers  and  delibe- 
rates with  himself  whether  it  be  a 
sin  or  no.  A  sin  of  infirmity  is, 
1.  Such  a  failing  as  proceeds  from 
excuseable  ignorance. — 2.  Or  un- 
avoidable surprise. — 3.  Or  want 
of  courage  and  strength,  Rom. 
XVj    1. 

By  infirmity  also  we  understand 
the  corruptions  that  are  still  left  in 
the  heart  (notwithstanding  a  per- 
son may  be  sanctified  in  part),  and 
which  sometimes  break  out.  These 
may  be  permitted  to  humble  us ; 
to  animate  our  vigilance  ;  perhaps 
that  newly  convinced  sinners  might 
not  be  discouraged  by  a  sight  of 
such  perfection  they  might  despair 
of  ever  attaining  to;  to  keep  us 
prayerful  and  dependent;  to  pre- 
vent those  honours  which  some 
would  be  ready  to  give  to  human 
nature  rather  than  to  God  ;  and, 
lastly,  to  excite  in  us  a  continu- 
al desire  for  heaven.  Let  us  be 
cautions  and  watchful,  however, 
against  sin  in  all  its  forms :  for 
it  argues  a  deplorable  state  of  mind 
when  men  love  to  practise  sin,  and 
then  lay  it  upon  constitution,  the 
infirmity  of  nature,  the  decree  of 
God,  the  influence  of  Satan,  and 
thus  attempt  to  excuse  themselves 
by  saying  they  could  not  avoid  it. 
Clark's  Senn.y  ser.  12,  vol.  ix  j 
Massi/ott's  Serm.,  vol.  ii,  p.  213, 
Eng.   trans. 

INFINITY.  Infinity  is  taken 
in  two  senses  entirely  different,  i.  e. 
in  a  positive  and  a  negative  one. 
Positive  infinity  is  a  quality  of  being 
perfect  in  itself,  or  capable  of  re- 
ceiving no  addition.  Negative  is 
the  quality  of  being  boundless,  un- 
limited, or  endless^     That  God  is 


infinite  isevident;  for,  as  Doddridge 
observes,  1.  If  he    be  limited,    it 
must  either  be  by  himself,  or  by 
another  ;  but  no  wise  being  would 
abridge  himself,  and  there  could  be 
no  other  being  to  limit  God. — 2. 
Infinity  follows  from  self-existence; 
for  a  necessity  that  is  not  universal 
must  depend  on  some  external  cause, 
which  a   self-existent   Being  doe^ 
not. — 3.  Creation   is   so  great   art 
act  of  power,  that  we  can  imagine 
nothing    impossible  to  that  Being 
who   has  performed  it,  but  must 
therefore  ascribe   to    him    infinite 
power. — 4.  It  is  more  honourable 
to  the  Divine  Being  to  conceive  of 
him    as    infinite,    than    finite. — 5. 
The  scriptures  represent  all  his  at- 
tributes  as    infinite.      His  under- 
standing is  infinite.  Psal.  cxlvli,  5. 
His  knowledge  and  wisdom,  Rom. 
xi,  33.     His  power,  Rom,  i.  20. 
Heb.  xi,  3.  His  goodness,  Psal.  xvi, 
2.  His  purity,   holiness,   and  jus- 
tice. Job  iv.   17.   18.  Isa.  vi,  2,  3. 
— 6.  His  omnipresence  and  eter- 
nity prove   his  infinity ;    for  were 
he  not  infinite,  he  v/ould  be  bound- 
ed by  space  and  by  time,  which  he 
is  not.  Doddridge's  Lect.y  lee.  49 ; 
W alts' s  Ontology^  ch.  17  ;  Locke  on 
Under  St.  ^  vol.  i,    ch.    17';  Howe's 
Works i  vol.  i,  p.  63,  64,  67. 

INFLUENCES  DIVINE,  a 
term  made  use  of  to  denote  the  ope- 
rations of  the  Divine  Being  upon 
the  mind.  This  doctrine  of  Divine 
Influences  has  been  much  called 
in  question  of  late;  but  we  may 
ask,  1.  What  Doctrine  can  be  more 
reasonabk?  "The  operations  which 
the  power  of  God  carries  on  in  the 
natural  world  are  no  less  mysteri- 
ous than  those  which  the  Spirit 
performs  in  the  moral  world,     I£ 


ING 


422 


INJ 


Kien,  by  their  councils  atid  sug- 
gestions, can  influence  the  minds 
of  one  another,  must  not  Divine 
suggestion  produce  a  much  greater 
efFect  ?  Surely  the  Father  of  Spi- 
rits, by  a  thousand  ways,  has  ac- 
cess to  the  spirits  he  has  made,  so 
as  to  give  them  what  determina- 
tion, or  impart  to  them  what  assist- 
ance he  thinks  proper,  without 
injuring  their  frame  or  disturbing 
their  rational  powers." 

"We  may  observe,  2.  Nothing 
can  be  more  scriptural.  Eminent 
-men  from  the  patriarchal  age 
down  to  St.  John,  the  latest  wri- 
ter, believed  in  this  doctrine,  and 
ascribed  their  religious  feelings  to 
this  source.  Our  Lord  strongly 
and  repeatedly  inculcated  this 
truth  ;  and  that  he  did  not  mean 
miraculous,  but  moral  influences 
of  the  Spirit,  is  evident,  John  iii, 
3.  Matt,  vii,  22,  23.  John  vi,  44, 
46,  See,  also,  John  xii,  32,  40, 
Rom.  viii,  9.  1st  Cor.  ii,  14. — 3. 
And  we  may  add,  nothing  can 
be  more  necessary^  if  we  consi- 
der the  natural  depravity  of  the 
heart,  and  the  insufhciency  of  all 
hum>an  means  to  render  ourselves 
either  holy  or  happy  without  a 
supernatural  power.  See  Wil- 
liams's Historic  Defence  of  Expe- 
rimental Religion  ;  WiUiams's  An- 
szver  to  Belsham^\ti.  13;  Hurrion^s 
Sermons  on  the  Spirit;  Ozven  on 
the  Spirit. 

■  INGRATITUDE,  the  vice  of 
being  insensible  to  favours  receiv- 
ed, without  any  endeavour  to  ac- 
knowledge and  repay  them.  It  is 
sometimes  applied  to  the  act  of 
returning  evil  for  good.  Ingrati- 
tude, it  is  said,  is  no  passion  ;  for 
the  God  of  nature  has  appointed 


no  motion  of  the  spirits  where-* 
by  it  might  be  excited ;  it  is, 
therefore,  a  mere  vice,  arising 
from  pride,  stupidity,  or  narrow- 
ness of  soul. 

INIQUITY.    See  Sin. 

INJURY,  a  violation  of  the 
rights  of  another.  Some,  says 
Grove,  distinguish  between  injus- 
titia  and  injuria.  Injustice  is  op- 
posed to  justice  in  general,  whe- 
ther negative  or  positive  ;  an  inju- 
ry to  negative  justice  alone.  See 
Justice.  An  injury  is,  wilfully 
doing  to  another  what  ought  not 
to  be  done.  This  is  injustice,  too, 
but  not  the  whole  idea  of  it  •,  for  it 
is  injustice,  also,  to  refuse  or  neg- 
lect doing  what  ought  to  be  done. 
An  injury  must  be  wilfully  com- 
mitted ;  whereas  it  is  enough  to 
make  a  thing  unjust,  that  it  happens 
through  a  culpable  negligence.  1. 
We  may  injure  a  person  in  his  soul^ 
by  misleading  his  judgment;  by 
corrupting  the  imagination  ;  per- 
verting the  will  ;  and  wounding 
the  soul  with  grief.  Persecutors 
who  succeed  in  their  compulsive 
measures,  though  they  cannot  alter 
the  real  sentiments  by  external 
violence,  yet  sometimes  injure  the 
soul  by  making  the  man  a  hypo- 
crite.— 2.  We  may  injure  another 
in  his  bodyy  by  homicide,  murder, 
preventing  life,  dismembering  the 
body  by  wounds,  blows,  slavery, 
and  imprisonment,  or  any  unjust 
restraint  upon  its  liberty  •,  by  rob- 
bing it  of  its  chastity,  or  prejudicr 
ing  its  health. — 3.  We  may  injure 
another  in  his  name  and  character y 
by  our  own  false  and  rash  judg- 
ments of  him  ;■  by  false  witness  ; 
by, charging  a  man  to  his  face  with 
a  crime  which  either  we  ourselves 


IN  J 


423 


INO 


have  forged,  or  which  we  know  to 
have  been  forged  by  some  other  per- 
son; by  detraction  or  backbiting; 
by  reproach,  or  exposing  another 
for  some  natural  infeUcity  either  in 
body  or  mind ;  or  for  some  ca- 
lamity into  which  he  is  fallen,  or 
some  miscarriage  of  which  he  has 
been  guilty ;  by  Inuendos,  or  in- 
direct accusations  that  are  not 
true.  Now  if  we  consider  the  va'ue 
of  character ;  the  resentment  which 
the  injurious  person  has  of  such 
treatment  when  it  comes  to  his 
own  turn  to  suffer  it ;  the  conse- 
quence of  a  man's  losing  his  good 
name  ;  and,  finally,  the  d-fficultij 
of  making  reparation,  we  must  at 
once  see  the  injustice  of  lessening 
another's  good  character.  There 
are  these  two  considerations  which 
should  sometimes  restrain  us  from 
speaking  the  whole  truth  of  our 
neighbour,  when  it  is  to  his  dis- 
advantage. 1.  That  he  may  pos- 
sibly live  to  see  his  folly,  and  re- 
pent and  grow  better. — 2.  Ad- 
mitting that  we  speak  the  truth, 
yet  it  is  a  thousand  to  one  but,  when 
it  is  handed  about  for  some  time, 
it  will  contract  a  deal  of  false- 
hood.— 3.  We  ^vay  injure  a  person 
in  his  relations  and  dependencies. 
In  his  servants,  by  corrupting  them; 
in  his  children,  by  drawing  them 
into  evil  courses  ;  in  his  wife,  by 
sowing  strife,  attempting  to  alie- 
nate her  affections. — 4.  We  may  be 
cruiltij  of  injuring  another  in  his 
ivorldly  goods  or  possessions.  1 .  By 
doing  him  a  mischief,  without  any 
advantage  to  ourselves,  through 
envy  and  malice.-— 2.  By  taking 
what  is  another's,  which  is  theft. 
See  Grove's  Mor.  Phil.y  eh.  8, 
p.    2 ;    Watts' s    Sermons ^    vol.    ii, 


ser. 

42. 


'3 ;    Tillotsons  Serm.,  serra; 


INJURIES,  Forgiveness  of.   Sec 
Forgiveness. 

INJUSTICE.     See  Injury. 
INNOCENCE,  acting  in  perfect 
consonance  to  the  law,  without  in- 
curring guilt  or  consequent  punish- 
ment.    See  M  N. 

INQUISITION,  in  the  church, 
of  Rome,  a  tribunal,  in  several  Ro- 
man Catholic  countries,  erected 
by  the  popes  for  the  examination 
and  punishment  of  heretics.  This 
court  was  founded  in  the  twelfth 
century,  under  the  patronage  of 
pope  Innocent,  who  issued  out 
orders  to  excite  the  Catholie 
princes   and    people    to    extirpate 

\  heretics,  to  search  into  their  num- 

iber  and  quality,  and  to  transmit 
a    faithful     account     thereof     to 

j  Rome.  Hence  they  were  called 
inquisitors,  and  gave  birth  to  this 

[  formidable  tribunal  called  the  In- 
quisition. That  nothing  might  be 
wanting  to  render  this  spiritual 
court  formidable  and  tremendous, 
the  Roman  pontiffs  persuaded  the 
European  princes,  and  more  es- 
pecially the  emperor  Frederick 
II,  and  Lewis  IX,  king  of 
France,  not  only  to  enact  the 
most  barbarous  laws  against  here- 
tics, and  to  commit  to  the  flames, 
by  the  ministry  of  public  justiccj 
those  who  were  pronounced  such 
by  the  inquisitors,  but  also  to 
maintain  the  inquisitors  in  their 
office,  and  grant  them  their  pro- 
tection in  the  most  open  and  so- 
lemn manner.  The  edicts  to  this 
purpose  issued  out  by  Frederick 
II  are  well  known ;  edicts  suf- 
ficient to  have  excited  the  greatest 
horror,    and   which  rendered  the 


424 


INQ 


most  Illustrious  piety  and  virtue 
incapable  of  saving  from  the 
cruellest  death  such  as  had  the 
misfortune  to  be  disagreeable  to 
the  inquisitors.  These  abomina- 
ble lav^s  were  not,  however,  suffi- 
cient to  restrain  the  just  indigna- 
tion of  the  people  against  those 
inhuman  judges,  whose  barbarity 
was  accompanied  with  supersti- 
tion and  arrogance,  with  a  spirit 
df  suspicion  and  perfidy  ;  nay  even 
with  temerity  and  imprudence. 
Accordingly,  they  were  insulted  by 
the  multitude  in  many  places,  were 
driven  in  an  ignominious  manner 
put  of  some  cities,  and  were  put  to 
death  in  others ;  and  Conrad,  of 
Marpurg,  the  first  German  inqui- 
sitor who  derived  his  commission 
from  Gregory  IX,  was  one  of  the 
many  victims  that  were  sacrificed 
pn  this  occasion  to  the  vengeance  of 
the  public,  which  his  incredible 
barbarities  had  raised  to  a  dreadful 
degree  of  vehemence  and  fury. 

This  diabolical  tribunal  takes 
^;ognizance  of  heresy,  Judaism,  ma- 
hpmetanism,  sodomy,  and  polyga- 
rny;  and  the  people  stand  in  so 
jnuch  fear  of  it,  that  parents  deliver 
]4p  their  children,  husbands  their 
■^ives,  and  masters  their  servants, 
to  its  officers,  without  daring  in  the 
least  to  murmur.  The  prisoners 
are  kept  for  a  long  time,  till  they 
themselves  turn  their  own  accusers, 
and  declare  the  cause  of  their  im- 
prisonment, for  which  they  are  nei- 
ther told  their  crime,  nor  confront- 
ed with  witnesses.  As  soon  as  they 
are  imprisoned,  their  friends  go  into 
mourning,  and  speak  of  them  as 
dead,  not  daring  to  solicit  their  par- 
don, lest  they  sliould  be  brought  in 


as  accomplices.  When  there  is  no 
shadow  of  proof  against  the  pre- 
tended criminal,  he  is  discharged, 
after  suffering  the  most  cruel  tor- 
tures, a  tedious  and  dreadful  im- 
prisonment, and  the  loss  of  the 
greatest  part  of  his  effects.  The 
sentence  against  prisoners  is  pro- 
nounced publicly,  and  with  extra- 
ordinary solemnity.  In  Portugal 
they  erect  a  theatre  capable  of  hold- 
ing three  thousand  persons,  in 
which  they  place  a  rich  altar,  and 
raise  seats  on  each  side,  in  the  form 
of  an  amphitheatre.  There  the 
prisoners  are  placed,  and  over  a- 
gainst  them  is  a  high  chair,  whi- 
ther they  are  called  one  by  one  to 
hear  their  doom  from  one  of  their 
inquisitors.  These  unhappy  per- 
sons know  what  they  are  to  suffer 
by  the  clothes  they  wear  that  day  : 
those  who  appear  in  their  own 
clothes  are  discharged  on  pay- 
ing a  fine ;  those  who  have  a  ianto 
benitOy  or  strait  yellow  coat  with- 
out sleeves,  charged  with  St.  An- 
drew's cross,  have  their  lives,  but 
forfeit  all  their  effects  ;  those  who 
have  the  resemblance  of  flames 
made  of  red  serge  sewed  upon 
their  santo  benito,  without  any 
cross,  are  pardoned,  but  threat- 
ened to  be  burnt  if  ever  they  re- 
lapse *,  but  those  who,  besides 
these  flames,  have  on  their  santo 
benito  their  own  picture  surround- 
ed with  devils,  are  condemned  to 
expire  in  the  flames.  The  inqui- 
sitors, who  are  ecclesiastics,  do 
not  pronounce  the  sentence  of 
death,  but  form  and  read  an  act, 
in  which  they  say,  that  the  crimi- 
nal, being  convicted  of  such  a 
crime  by  his  own  confession,  U^ 


INS 


4^5 


INS 


with  much  reluctance,  delivered 
to  the  secular  power,  to  be  pu- 
nished according  to  his  demerits ; 
and  this  writing  they  give  to  the 
seven  judges,  who  attend  at  the 
right  side  of  the  altar,  and  im- 
mediately pass  sentence.  For  the 
conclusion  of  this  horrid  scene, 
see  Act  of  Faith.  We  rejoice 
however,  to  hear,  that,  in  many 
Roman  Catholic  countries,  the 
inquisition  is  now  shut.  May  the 
God  of  mercy  and  love  prevent 
its  ever  being  employed  again  ! 
See  Baker's  History  of  ihe  Inqui- 
sition ;  and  LimhorcU s  History  of 
ihe  Inquisition^  translated  by  Chand- 
ler. 

INSPIRATION,  the  conveying 
of  certain  extraordinary  and  super- 
natural notices  or  motions  into 
the  soul ;  or  it  denotes  any  super- 
natural influence  of  God  upon 
the  mind  of  a  rational  creature, 
whereby  he  is  formed  to  any  de- 
gree of  intellectual  improvement, 
to  which  he  could  not,  or  would 
not,  in  fact,  have  attained  in  his  pre- 
sent circumstances  in  a  natural 
way.  Thus  the  prophets  are  said 
to  have  spoken  by  divine  inspira- 
tion. Theological  writers  have  enu- 
merated several  kinds  of  inspira- 
tion. 1.  An  inspiration  of  siiperin-\ 
tendency^  in  which  God  does  so  in-  I 
fluence  and  direct  the  mind  of  any : 
person  as  to  keep  him  more  secure  j 
from  error  in  some  various  and 
complex  discourse,  than  he  would  i 
have  been  merely  by  the  use  of 
his  natural  faculties. — 2.  Plenary 
super ■7Jtende?it  inspiration,  which  ex- 
cludes any  mixture  of  error  at  all 
from  the  performance  so  superin- 
tended.— 3.  Inspiration  of  eleva- 
tion^ where  the  faculties  act  in  a 

Vol.  3  I 


regular,  and,  as  it  seems,  in  a  com- 
mon manner,  yet  arc  raised  to  an 
extraordinary  degree,  so  that  the 
composure  shall,  upon  the  whole, 
have  more  of  the  true  sublime 
or  pathetic  than  natural  genius 
could  have  given. — 4.  Inspiration 
of  suggestion,  where  the  use  of 
the  faculties  is  superseded,  and 
God  does,  as  it  were,  speak  di- 
rectly to  the  mind,  making  such 
discoveries  to  it  as  it  could  not 
otherwise  have  obtained,  and  dic- 
tating the  very  words  in  which 
such  discoveries  are  to  be  commu- 
nicated, if  they  are  designed  as  a 
message  to  others.  It  is  generally 
allowed  that  the  scriptures  were 
written  by  divijie  inspiration.  The 
matter  of  them,  the  spirituality 
and  elevation  of  their  design,  the 
majesty  and  simplicity  of  their 
Style,  the  agreement  of  their  va- 
rious parts,  their  wonderful  effi- 
cacy on  mankind  ;  the  candour, 
disinterestedness,  and  uprightness 
of  the  penmen  ;  their  astonishing 
preservation ;  the  multitude  of 
miracles  wrought  in  confirmation 
of  the  doctrines  they  contain,  and 
the  exact  fulfilment  of  their  pre- 
dictions, prove  this.  It  has  been 
disputed,  hov/ever,  whether  this  in- 
spiration is  in  the  most  absolute 
sense  plenary.  As  this  is  a  sub- 
ject of  importance,  and  ought  to 
be  carefully  studied  by  every  chris- 
tian, in  order  that  he  may  ren- 
der a  reason  of  the  hope  that  is 
in  him,  I  shall  here  subjoin  the ' 
remarks  of  an  able  writer,  who 
though  he  may  differ  from  some 
others  as  to  the  terms  made  use  of 
above,  yet  I  am  persuaded  his 
arguments  will  be  found  weighty 
and  powerful.     "  There  are  many 


INS 


426 


IN  S 


things  in  the' scriptures,"  says  Mr. 
Dick,  "  which  the  writers  might 
have  known,  and  probably  did 
know,  by  ordinary  means.  As 
persons  possessed  of  memory,  judg- 
ment, and  the  other  intellectual 
faculties  which  are  common  to 
men,  they  were  able  to  relate  cer- 
tain events  in  which  they  had  been 
personally  concerned,  and  to  make 
such  occasional  reflections  as  were 
suggested  by  particular  subjects 
and  occurrences.  In  these  cases 
«o  supernatural  influence  w^s  ne- 
cessary to  invigorate  their  minds  ; 
it  was  only  necessary  that  they 
should  be  infallibly  preserved  from 
error.  It  is  with  respect  to  such 
passages  of  scripture  alone,  as  did 
not  exceed  the  natural  ability  of 
the  writers  to  compose,  that  I 
"Would  admit  the  notion  of  super- 
intendence, if  it  should  be  admitted 
at  all.  Perhaps  this  word,  though 
of  established  use  and  almost  un- 
disputed authority,  should  be  en- 
tirely laid  aside,  as  insuihcient  to 
express  even  the  lowest  degree  of 
inspiration.  In  the  passages  of 
scripture  which  we  are  now  con- 
sidering, I  conceive  the  writers  to 
have  been  not  merely  superin- 
tended, that  they  might  commit 
no  error,  but  likewise  to  have 
been  moved  or  excited  by  the 
Holy  Ghost  to  record  particular 
events,  and  set  down  particular 
observations.  The  passages  writ- 
ten in  consequence  of  the  di- 
rection and  under  the  care  of  the 
Divine  Spirit,  may  be  said,  in  an 
inferior  sense,  to  be  inspired  ; 
whereas  if  the  men  had  written 
them  at  the  suggestion  -of  their 
own  spirit,  they  would  not  have 
possessed     any    more    authority, ! 


though  they  had  been  free  from: 
error,  than  those  parts  of  pro- 
fane writings  which  are  agreeable 
to  truth. 

2.  "  There  are  other  parts  of 
the  scriptures  in  which  the  faculties 
of  the  writers  were  supernaturally 
invigorated  and  elevated.  It  is 
impossible  for  us,  and  perhaps  it 
was  not  possible  for  the  inspired 
person  himself,  to  determine  where 
nature  ended  and  inspiration  be- 
gan. It  is  enough  to  know,  that 
there  are  many  parts  of  scripture 
in  which,  though  the  unassisted 
mind  might  have  proceeded  some 
steps,  a  Divine  impulse  was  neces- 
sary to  enable  it  to  advance.  I 
think,  for  example,  that  the  evan- 
gelists could  not  have  written  the 
history  of  Christ  if  they  had  not 
enjoyed  miraculous  aid.  Two  of 
them,  Matthew  and  John,  accom- 
panied our  Saviour  during'  the 
space  of  three  years  and  a  halfi 
At  the  close  of  this  period,  or  ra- 
ther several  years  after  it,  when 
they  wrote  their  gospels,  we  may 
be  certain  that  they  had  forgot- 
ten many  of  his  discourses  and 
miracles;  that  they  recollected 
others  indistinctly  ;  and  that  they 
would  have  been  in  danger  of  pro- 
ducing an  inaccurate  and  unfair 
account,  by  confounding  one  thing 
with  another.  Besides,  from  sa 
large  a  mass  of  particulars,  men 
of  uncultivated  minds,  who  were 
not  in  the  habit  of  distinguishing 
and  classifying,  could  not  have 
made  a  proper  selection;  nor 
would  persons  unskilled  in  the  art 
of  composition  have  been  able  to 
express  themselves  in  such  terms 
as  should  ensure  a  faithful  repre- 
sentation of    doctrines  and  facts, 


INS 


427 


INS 


Snd  with  such  dignity  as  the  na- 
ture of  the  subject  required.  A 
divine  influence,  therefore,  must 
have  been  exerted  on  their  minds, 
by  which  their  memories  and 
judgments  were  strengthened,  and 
they  were  enabled  to  relate  the 
doctrines  and  miracles  of  their 
Master  in  a  manner  the  best  fit- 
ted to  impress  the  readers  of  their 
histories.  The  promise  of  the 
Holy  Ghost  to  bring  to  their  re- 
membrance all  things  whatsoever 
Christ  had  said  to  them,  proves, 
that,  in  writing  their  histories, 
their  mental  powers  were  endow- 
ed, by  his  agency,  with  more  than 
usual  vigour. 

**  Farther ;  it  must  be  allowed 
ihat  in  several  passages  of  scrip- 
ture there  is  found  such  elevation 
of  thought  and  of  style,  as  clear- 
ly shews  that  the  powers  of  the 
writers  were  raised  above  their 
ordinary  pitch.  If  a  person  of 
moderate  talents  should  give  as 
elevated  a  description  of  the  ma- 
jesty and  attributes  of  God,  or 
reason  as  profoundly  on  the  mys- 
terious doctrines  of  religion,  as  a 
man  of  the  most  exalted  genius 
and  extensive  learning,  we  could 
not  fail  to  be  convinced  that  he 
was  supernaturally  assisted  \  and 
the  conviction  would  be  still 
stronger,  if  his  composition  should 
far  transcend  the  highest  efforts 
of  the  human  mind.  Some  of 
the  sacred  writers  were  taken  from 
the  lowest  ranks  of  life  ;  and  yet 
sentiments  so  dignified,  and  re- 
presentations of  divine  things  so 
grand  and  majestic,  occur  in  their 
writings,  that  the  noblest  flights  of 
human    genius,    when    compared 


with    them,    appear  cold  and  in- 
sipid. 

3.  "  It  is  manifest,  with  respect 
to  many  passages  of  scripture, 
that  the  subjects  of  which  they 
treat  must  have  been  directly  re- 
vealed to  the  writers.  They 
could  not  have  been  known  by 
any  natural  means,  nor  was  the 
knowledge  of  them  attainable  by 
a  simple  elevation  of  the  faculties. 
With  the  faculties  of  an  angel 
we  could  not  discover  the  pur- 
poses of  the  Divine  mind.  This 
degree  of  inpsiration  we  attribute 
to  those  who  were  enipowered  to 
reveal  heavenly  mysteries,  *  which 
eye  had  not  seen,  and  ear  had 
not  heard,'  to  those  who  were 
sent  with  particular  messages 
from  God  to  his  people,  and  to 
those  who  were  employed  to  pre- 
dict future  events.  The  plan  of 
redemption  being  an  effect  of  the 
sovereign  councils  of  heaven,  it 
could  not  have  been  known  but 
by  a  communication  from  the 
Father  of  lights. 

"  This  kind  of  inspiration  has 
been  called  the  inspiration  of  sug~ 
gestmi.  It  is  needless  to  dispute 
about  a  word ;  but  suggestion 
seeming  to  express  an  operation 
on  the  mind,  by  which  ideas  are 
excited  In  it,  is  of  too  limited  sig- 
nification to  denote  the  various 
modes  In  which  the  prophets  and 
apostles  were  made  acquainted 
with  supernatural  truths.  God 
revealed  himself  to  them  not  only 
by  suggestion,  but  by  dreams,  vi- 
sions, voices,  and  the  ministry 
of  angels.  This  degree  of  inspi- 
ration, in  strict  propriety  of  speech, 
should  be  called  revelation  ;  a  word 


IN  S, 


428 


INS 


preferable  to  suggestion,  because 
it  is  expressive  of  all  the  ways 
in  which  God  communicated  new- 
ideas  to  the  minds  of  his  ser- 
•i'ants.  It  is  a  word,  too,  chosen 
by  the  Holy  Ghost  himself,  to 
signify  the  discovery  of  truths  for- 
merly unknown  to  the  apostles. 
The  last  book  of  the  New  Testa- 
ment, which  is  a  collection  of 
prophecies,  is  called  the  Revela- 
tion of  Jesus  Christ.  Paul  says, 
that  he  received  the  gospel  by  re- 
'udation  ;  that  *  by  revelation  the 
rhystery  was  made  known  to  him, 
which  in  other  ages  was  not  made 
known  unto  the  sons  of  men,  as 
it  was  then  revealed  unto  his  holy 
apostles  and  prophets  by  the 
Spirit  j'  and  in  another  place, 
having  observed  that  *  eye  had 
not  seen,  nor  ear  heard,  neither 
had  entered  into  the  heart  of  man 
the  things  which  God  had  pre- 
pared for  them  that  love  him,'  he 
adds,  *But  God  hath  revealed  ihem 
unto  us  by  his  Spirit,'  Rev.  i,  1. 
Gal.  i,  12.  Eph.  ii,  5.  1st  Cor.  ii, 
9,  10. 

"  I  have  not  names  to  designate 
the  other  two  kinds  of  inspiration. 
The  names  used  by  Doddridge, 
and  others.  Superintendence,  Ele- 
vation, and  Suggestion,  do  not  con- 
vey the  ideas  stated  in  the  three 
preceding  particulars,  and  are  li- 
able to  other  objections,  besides 
those  which  have  been  mentioned. 
This  account  of  the  inspiration  of 
the  scriptures  has,  I  think,  these 
two  recommendations  ;  that  there 
is  no  part  of  scripture  which  does 
not  fall  under  one  or  other  of  the 
foregoing  heads  j  and  that  the  dif- 
ferent degrees  of  the  agency  of 
the  Divine  Spirit  on  the  minds  of 


the  different  writers  are  carefully 
discriminated. 

"  Some  men  have  adopted  very 
strange  and  dangerous  notions 
respecting  the  inspiration  of  the 
scriptures.  Dr.  Priestley  denies 
that  they  were  written  by  a  par- 
ticular Divine  inspiration ;  and 
asserts  that  the  writers,  though 
men  of  the  greatest  probity,  were 
fallible,  and  have  actually  com- 
mitted mistakes  in  their  narra- 
tions and  their  reasonings.  But 
this  man  and  his  followers  find  it 
their  interest  to  weaken  and  set 
aside  the  authority  of  the  scrip- 
tures, as  they  have  adopted  a  sys- 
tem of  religion  from  which  all 
the  distinguishing  doctrines  of  re- 
velation are  excluded.  Others 
consider  the  scriptures  as  inspired 
in  those  places  where  they  profess 
to  deliver  the  word  of  God  j  but 
in  other  places,  especially  in  the 
historical  parts,  they  ascribe  to 
them  only  the  same  authority 
which  is  due  to  the  writings  of 
well  informed  and  upright  men. 
But  as  this  distinction  is  perfectly 
arbitrary,  having  no  foundation 
in  any  thing  said  by  the  sacred 
writers  themselves,  so  it  is  liable 
to  very  material  objections.  It 
represents  our  Lord  and  his  apos- 
tles, when  they  spoke  of  the  Old 
Testament,  as  having  attested, 
without  any  exception  or  limita- 
tion, a  number  of  books  as  di- 
vinely inspired,  while  some  of 
them  were  partly,  and  some  were 
almost  entirely,  human  compo- 
sitions :  it  supposes  the  writers  of 
both  Testaments  to  have  profane- 
ly mixed  their  own  productions 
with  the  dictates  of  the  Spirit,  and 
to   have    passed    the    unhallowed 


INS 


429 


INS 


compound  on  the  world  as  genu- 
ine. In  fact,  by  denying  that 
they  were  constantly  under  in- 
fallible guidance,  it  leaves  us  ut- 
terly at  a  loss  to  know  when  we 
should  or  should  not  believe 
them.  If  they  could  blend  their 
own  stories  with  the  revelations 
made  to  them,  how  can  I  be  cer- 
tain that  they  have  not,  on  some 
occasions,  published,  in  the  name 
of  God,  sentiments  of  their  own, 
to  which  they  were  desirous  to 
gain  credit  and  authority  ?  Who 
will  assure  me  of  their  perfect 
fidelity  in  drawing  a  line  of  dis- 
tinction between  the  divine  and 
the  human  parts  of  their  writings  ? 
The  denial  of  the  plenary  inspi- 
ration of  the  scriptures  tends  to 
unsettle  the  foundations  of  our 
faith,  involves  us  in  doubt  and  per- 
plexity, and  leaves  us  no  other 
method  of  ascertaining  how  much 
we  should  believe,  but  an  appeal 
to  reason.  But  when  reason  is 
invested  with  the  authority  of  a 
judge,  not  only  is  revelation  dis- 
honoured, and  its  author  insulted, 
but  the  end  for  which  it  was  given 
is  completely  defeated. 

"  A  question  of  very  great 
importance  demands  our  atten- 
tion, while  we  are  endeavouring 
to  settle,  with  precision,  the  no- 
tion of  the  inspiration  of  the 
scriptures  :  it  relates  to  the  words 
in  which  the  sacred  writers  have 
expressed  their  ideas.  Some  think, 
that  in  the  choice  of  words  they 
were  left  to  their  own  discretion, 
and  that  the  language  is  human, 
though  the  matter  be  divine ; 
while  others  believe,  that  in  their 
expressions,  as  well  as  in  their 
sentiments,    they  were  under  the 


infallible  direction  of  the  Spirit. 
It  is  the  last  opinion  which 
appears  to  be  most  conformable 
to  truth,  and  it  may  be  sup- 
ported by  the  following  reason- 
ing. 

"  Every  man,  who  hath  attend- 
ed to  the  operations  of  his  own 
mind,  knows  that  we  think  in 
words,  or  that,  when  we  form  a 
train  or  combination  of  ideas,  we 
clothe  them  with  words  •,  and  that 
the  ideas  which  are  not  thus 
clothed  are  indistinct  and  con- 
fused. Let  a  man  try  to  think 
upon  any  subject,  moral  or  re- 
ligious, without  the  aid  of  lan- 
guage, and  he  will  either  experi- 
ence a  total  cessation  of  thought, 
or,  as  this  seems  impossible,  at 
least  while  we  are  awake,  he  will 
feel  himself  constrained,  notwith- 
standing his  utmost  endeavours,  to 
have  recourse  to  words  as  the  in- 
strument of  his  mental  operations. 
As  a  great  part  of  the  scriptures 
was  suggested  or  revealed  to  the 
writers ;  as  the  thoughts  or  sen- 
timents, which  were  perfectly  new 
to  them,  were  conveyed  into  their 
minds  by  the  Spirit,  it  is  plain 
that  they  must  have  been  accom- 
panied with  words  proper  to  ex- 
press them  ;  and,  consequently, 
that  the  words  were  dictated  by 
the  same  influences  on  the  mind 
which  communicated  the  ideas. 
The  ideas  could  not  have  come 
without  the  words,  because  with- 
out them  they  could  not  have 
been  conceived.  A  notion  of  the 
form  and  qualities  of  a  material 
object  may  be  produced  by  sub- 
jecting it  to  our  senses  j  but  there 
is  no  conceivable  method  of  mak- 
ing us  acquainted  with  new  ab- 


1  N  S 


430 


INS 


stract  truths,  or  with  things  which 
do  not  He  within  the  sphere  of 
sensation,  but  by  conveying  to 
die  mind,  in  some  way  or  other, 
the  words  significant  of  them. 
In  all  those  passages  of  scripture, 
therefore,  which  were  written  by 
revelation,  it  is  manifest  that  the 
words  were  inspired ;  and  this  is 
still  more  evident  with  respect  to 
those  passages  which  the  writers 
themselves  did  not  understand. 
No  man  could  write  an  intelli- 
gible discourse  on  a  subject  which 
he  does  not  understand,  unless  he 
were  furnished  with  the  words  as 
well  as  the  sentiments  -,  and  that 
the  penmen  of  the  scriptures 
did  not  always  understand  what 
they  wrote,  might  be  safely 
inferred  from  the  comparative 
darkness  of  the  dispensation  under 
which  some  of  them  lived  ;  and 
is  intimated  by  Peter,  when  he 
says,  that  the  prophets  *  enquired 
and  searched  diligently  what,  and 
what  manner  of  time  the  spirit  of 
Christ  which  was  in  them  did  sig- 
nify, when  it  testified  beforehand 
the  sufferings  of  Christ,  and  the 
glory  that  should  follow,'  1st  Pet. 
i,  10,   11. 

<'  In  other  passages  of  scrip- 
ture, those  not  excepted  in  which 
the  writers  relate  such  things  as 
had  fallen  v/ithin  the  compass  of 
their  own  knowledge,  we  will  be 
disposed  to  believe  that  the  words 
are  inspired,  if  we  calmly  and 
seriously  weigh  the  following  con- 
siderations. If  Christ  promised 
to  his  disciples,  that,  when  they 
were  brought  before  kings  and 
governors  for  his  sake,  *  it  should 
be  given  them  in  that  same  hour 
what  they  should  speak,  and  that 


the  Spirit  of  their  Father  should 
speak  in  them,'  Matt,  x,  19,  20. 
Luke  xii,  11,  12.  a  promise  which 
cannot  be  reasonably  understood 
to  signify  less  than  that  both 
words  and  sentiment  should  be 
dictated  to  them,  it  is  fully  as 
credible  that  they  would  be  as- 
sisted in  the  same  manner  when 
they  wrote,  especially  as  the  re- 
cord was  to  last  through  all  ages, 
and  to  be  a  rule  of  faith  to  all 
the  nations  of  the  earth.  Paul 
affirms,  that  he  and  the  other 
apostles  spoke  *  not  in  the  words 
which  man's  wisdom  teacheth, 
but  which  the  Holy  Ghost 
taught,'  1st  Cor.  ii,  13.  and  this 
general  assertion  may  be  applied 
to  their  writings  as  well  as  to 
their  sermons.  Besides,  every 
person  who  hath  reflected  upon' 
the  subject  is  aware  of  the  im- 
portance of  a  proper  selection  of 
words  in  expressing  our  senti- 
ments ;  and  knows  how  easy  it  is 
for  a  heedless  or  unskilful  person 
not  only  to  injure  the  beauty  and 
weaken  the  efficacy  of  a  discourse 
by  the  impropriety  of  his  lan- 
guage, but,  by  substituting  one 
word  for  another,  to  which  it 
seems  to  be  equivalent,  to  alter 
the  meaning,  and  perhaps  render 
it  totally  different.  If,  then,  the 
sacred  writers  had  not  been  di- 
rected in  the  choice  of  words, 
how  could  we  have  been  assured 
that  those  which  they  have  cho- 
sen were  the  most  proper  .'*  Is  it 
not  possible,  nay,  is  it  not  certain, 
that  they  would  have  sometimes 
expressed  themselves  inaccurately, 
as  many  of  them  were  illiterate  5 
and  by  consequence  would  have 
obscured   and   misrepresented  the 


INS 


431 


INS 


truth  ?  Iti  this  case,  how  could 
our  faith  have  securely  rested  on 
their  testimony  ?  Would  not  the 
suspicion  of  error  in  their  writings 
have  rendered  it  necessary,  before 
we  received  them,  to  try  them  by 
the  standard  of  reason  ?  and  would 
not  the  authority  and  the  design 
of  revelation  have  thus  been  over- 
thrown ?  We  must  conclude, 
therefore,  that  the  words  of  scrip- 
ture are  from  God,  as  well  as  the 
matter ;  or  we  shall  charge  him 
with  a  want  of  wisdom  in  trans- 
mitting his  truths  through  a  chan- 
nel by  which  they  might  have 
been,  and  most  probably  have  been, 
polluted. 

**  To  the  inspiration  of  the 
words,  the  difference  in  the  style 
of  the  sacred  writers  seems  to  be 
an  objection  ;  because,  if  the  Ho- 
ly Ghost  were  the  author  of  the 
words,  the  style  might  be  expected 
to  be  uniformly  the  same.  But 
in  ansv/er  to  this  objection  it  may 
be  observed,  that  the  Divine  Spi- 
rit, whose  operations  are  various, 
might  act  differently  on  different 
persons,  according  to  the  natural 
turn  of  their  minds.  He  might 
enable  one  man,  for  instance,  to 
write  more  sublimely  than  an- 
other, because  he  was  naturally  of 
a  more  exalted  genius  than  the 
other,  and  the  subject  assigned  to 
him  demanded  more  elevated  lan- 
guage -,  or  he  might  produce  a 
difference  in  the  style  of  the  same 
man,  by  raising,  at  one  time,  his 
faculties  above  their  ordinary  state  ; 
arid  by  leaving  them,  at  another, 
to  act  according  to  their  native 
energy  under  his  Inspection  and 
control.     We  should  not  suppose  [ 


that  inspiration,  even  in  its  higher 
degrees,  deprived  those  who  were 
the  subjects  of  it  of  the  use  of 
their  faculties.  They  vtrere,  in- 
deed, the  organs  of  the  Spirit ; 
but  they  were  conscious,  intelli- 
gent organs.  They  were  depend- 
ent, but  distinct  agents  ;  and  the 
operation  of  their  mental  powers, 
though  elevated  and  directed  by 
superior  influence,  was  analogous 
to  their  ordinary  mode  of  pro- 
cedure. It  is  easy,  therefore,  to 
conceive  that  the  style  of  the 
writers  of  the  scriptures  should 
differ,  just  as  it  would  have  dif- 
fered if  they  had  not  been  in- 
spired. A  perfect  uniformity  of 
style  could  not  have  taken  place, 
unless  they  had  all  been  inspired 
in  the  same  degree,  and  by  inspi- 
ration their  faculties  had  been 
completely  suspended  •,  so  that  di- 
vine truths  were  conveyed  by 
them  in  the  same  passive  manner 
In  which  a  pipe  affords  a  passage 
to  water,  or  a  trumpet  to  the 
breath."  See  DicFs  Essa'^  on  the 
Inspiration  of  the  Scriptures  ; 
Haiuker  on  Plenary  Inspiration  ; 
Appendix  /o  3d  vol.  of  Doddridge's 
Expositor  ;  Calamy  and  Bennett  on 
Inspiration ;  Dr.  Stetinett  on  the- 
Authority  and  Use  of  Scripture; 
Parry  s  Enquiry  into  the  Nattere  and 
Extent  of  the  Inspiration  of  the 
Apostles ;  Bro'wn's  Nat.  and  Rev. 
Relig.,  p.  78 ;  and  art.  Chris- 
tianity and  Scripture,  in  this 
work. 

INSTINCT,  that  power  which 
acts  on  and  impels  any  creature  to 
any  particular  manner  of  conduct, 
not  by  a  view  of  the  beneficial  con- 
sequences, but  merely  from  a  strong 


INT 


432 


INT 


impulse  supposed  necessary  in  its 
effects,  and  to  be  given  them  to 
supply  the  place  of  reason. 

INSTITUTE,  INSTITUTION, 
an  established  custom  or  law ;  a 
precept,  maxim,  or  principle.  In- 
stitutions may  be  considered  as  po- 
sitive, moral,  and  human.  1.  Those 
are  called  positive  institutions  or 
precepts  which  are  not  founded 
upon  any  reasons  known  to  those 
to  whom  they  are  given,  or  disco- 
verable by  them,  but  which  are 
.observed  merely  because  some  su- 
perior has  commanded  them. — 2. 
Moral  are  those,  the  reasons  of 
which  we  see,  and  the  duties  of 
which  arise  out  of  the  nature 
of  the  case  itself,  prior  to  ex- 
ternal    command. Z.    i/?/?»a«, 

are  generally  applied  to  those 
inventions  of  men,  or  means  of 
honouring  God,  which  are  not 
appointed  by  him,  and  which  are 
numerous  in  the  church  of  Rome, 
and  too  many  of  them  in  Pro- 
testant churches.  Butler's  Analogy, 
p.  214  ;  Doddridge's  Lec.y  lee.  158  ; 
Robinson'' s  Claude-^  217 j  vol  i,  and 
258,  vol.  ii ;  Burrough' s  two  Dis. 
on  Positive  Institiitiors  ;  Bp.  Hood- 
ley's  Plain  Account y   p.  3. 

INTEGRITY,  purity  of  mind, 
free  from  any  undue  bias  or  prin- 
ciple, Prov.  xi,  3.  Many  hold,  that 
a  certain  artful  sagacity,  founded 
upon  knowledge  of  the  world,  is 
the  best  conductor  of  every  one 
who  would  be  a  successful  adven- 
turer in  life,  and  that  a  strict  at- 
tention to  integrity  would  lead 
them  into  danger  and  distress  ;  but, 
in  answer  to  this,  it  is  justly  ob- 
served, 1.  That  the  guidance  of 
integrity  is  the  safest  under  which 
we  can  be  placed  ;  that  the  road 


in  which  it  leads  us  is,  upon  the 
whole,  the  freest  from  damgers, 
Prov.  iii,  21,  &c. — 2.  It  is  un- 
questionably the  most  honourable  ; 
for  integrity  is  the  foundation  of 
all  that  is  high  in  character  among 
mankind,  Prov.  iv,  8.-3.  It  is  the 
most  conducive  to  felicity,  Phil,  iv, 
6,  7.  Prov.  iii,  17. — 4.  Such  a  cha- 
racter can  look  forward  to  eternity  _ 
without  dismav,   Rom.  ii,   7. 

INTEMPERANCE,  excess  in 
eating  or  drinking.  This  is  the 
general  idea  of  it ;  but  we  may 
observe,  that  whatever  indulgence 
undermines  the  health,  impairs 
the  senses,  inflames  the  passions, 
clouds  and  sullies  the  reason,  per- 
verts the  judgment,  enslaves  the 
will,  or  in  any  way  disorders  or 
debilitates  the  faculties,  may  be 
ranked  under  this  vice.  See  article 
Temperance. 

INTERCESSION  OF  CHRIST 
is  his  interposing  for  sinners  by  vir- 
tue of  the  satisfaction  he  made  to 
Divine  justice.  1.  As  to  the  fact  it- 
selfy  it  is  evident,  from  many  places 
of  scripture,  that  Christ  pleads 
with  God  in  favour  of  his  people, 
Rom.  viii,  34.  Heb.  vii,  25.  1st 
John  ii,  1. — 2.  As  to  the  manner  of 
it :  the  appearance  of  the  high- 
priest  among  the  Jews,  in  the  pre- 
sence of  God,  on  the  day  of  atone- 
ment, when  he  offered  before  him 
the  blood  of  the  sin-offering,  is  at 
large  referred  to  by  St.  Paul,. as  il- 
lustrating theintercession  of  Christ, 
Heb.  ix,  11,  14,  22,  26.  Heb.  x, 
19,21.  Christ  appears  before  God 
with  his  own  body  ,  but  whether 
he  intercedes  vocally  or  not,  can- 
not be  known  ;  though  it  is  most 
probable,  I  think,  that  he  does  not : 
howeA'er,  it  is  certain  that  he  does 


INT 


433 


I 


tloes  not  intercede  in  like  manner 
as  when  on  earth,  with  prostra- 
tion of  body,  cries,  and  tears, 
which  would  be  quite  inconsistent 
with  his  state  of  exaltation  and 
glory ;  nor  as  supplicating  an  angry 
judge,  for  peace  is  made  by  the 
blood  of  the  cross  ;  nor  as  litigat- 
ing a  point  in  a  court  of  judica- 
ture ;  but  his  intercession  is  car- 
ried on  by  she\v\ng  himself  ^s  hav- 
ing done,  as  their  surety,  all  that 
law  and  justice  could  require,  by 
representing  his  blood  and  sacrifice 
as  the  ground  of  his  people's  ac- 
ceptance with  the  Father,  Rev.  v, 
6.  John  xvii,  24. — 3.  The  end  of 
Christ's  intercession  is  not  to  re- 
mind the  Divine  Being  of  afiy 
thing  which  he  would  otherwise 
forget,  nor  to  persuade  him  to  any 
thing  which  he  is  not  disposed  to 
do  ;  but  it  may  serve  to  illustrate 
the  holiness  and  majesty  of  the 
Father,  and  the  wisdom  and  grace 
of  the  Son ;  not  to  say  that  it  may 
have  other  unknown  uses  with  res- 
pect to  the  inhabitants  of  the  invi- 
sible world.  He  is  represented, 
also,  as  offering  up  the  prayers  and 
praises  of  his  people,  which  be- 
come acceptable  to  God  through 
"him,  Rev.  viii,  3,4.  Heb.  xiii,  15. 
1st  Pet.  ii,  5.  He  there  pleads 
for  the  conversion  of  his  uncon- 
verted ones ;  and  for  the  consola- 
tion, preservation,  and  glorification 
of  his  people,  John  xvii.  1st  John 
ii,  1,  2. — 4.  Of  the  properties  oj 
Christ's  intercession  we  may  ob- 
serve, 1.  That  it  is  authoritative. 
He  intercedes  not  without  right, 
John  xvii,  24.  Ps.  ii,  8. — 2.  Wise: 
he  understands  the  nature  of  his 
work,  and  the  wants  of  his  people, 
John  ii,  25. — 3.  Righteous  j  for  it 
Vol.  I.  3  K 


is  founded  upon  justice  and  truth, 
1st  John  iii,  5.  Heb.  vii,  26. — 4. 
Compassionate,  Heb.  ii,  17.  Heb. 
V,  8.  Is.  Ixiii,  9. — 5.  He  is  the  sole 
advocate,  1st  Tim.  ii,  5. — 6.  It  is 
perpetual,  Heb.  vii,  25. — 7.  Effi- 
cacious, 1st  John  ii,  1,  2. — 5.  The 
w^ewe  should  make  of  Christ's  in- 
tercession is  this:  1.  We  may 
leam  the  wonderful  love  of  God 
to  man,  Rom.  v,  10.— 2.  The  du- 
rability iand  safety  of  the  chmxh, 
Luke  xxii,  31,  32.  Is.  xvii,  24. — 

3.  The  ground  we  have  for  com- 
fort, Heb.  ix,  24.  Rorii.  viii,  34. 
— 4.  It  should  excite  us  to  offer  up 
prayers  to  God,  as  they  are  ac- 
ceptable through  him.  Rev.  viii,  3, 

4.  See  Charnock^s  Works^  vol.  ii, 
p.  11 09-;  FlaveVs  JVorks^  vol.  i,  p. 
72  ;  Doddridge'' s  Lec.^  vol.  ii,  p. 
294,  8vo,-  GiWs  Body  of  Div.^ 
vol.'  ii,  p.  126,  8vo.  edit.;  348 
Brown^s  Nat.  and  Rev.  Rel. ;  Ber- 
ry Street  Lec.^  No.  18  /  Ridgley'^s 
Body  of  Div. ^qnes,  55. 

INTERDICT,an  ecclesiastical 
censure,  by  which  the  church  of 
Rome  forbids  the  performance  of 
divine  service  in  a  kingdom,  pro- 
vince, town,  &c.  This  censure 
has  been  frequently  executed  in 
France,  Italy,  and  Germany  ;  and 
in  the  year  1 1 70,  pope  Alexander 
III  put  all  England  under  an  in- 
terdict, forbidding  the  clergy  to 
perform  any  part  of  divine  service, 
except  baptizing  infants,  taking 
confessions,  and  giving  absolution 
to  dying  penitents  ;  but  this  cen- 
sure being  liable  to  ill  conse- 
quences, of  promoting  libertinism 
and  a  neglect  of  religion,  the  su 
ceeding  popes  have  very  seldom 
made  use  of  it.  There  was  also 
an  interdict  of  persons,  who  wert; 


INT 


434 


IN 


deprived  of  the  benefit  of  attend' 
ing  on  divine  service.  Particular 
persons  were  also  anciently  inter- 
dicted of  fire  and  water,  which 
signifies  a  banishment  for  some 
particular  offence:  by  this  cen- 
sure no  person  Avas  permitted  to 
receive  them,  or  allovt^  them  fire 
or  water ;  and,  being  thus  wholly 
deprived  of  the  twonecessaiy  ele- 
ments of  life,  they  were,  doubt- 
less, under  a  kind  of  civil  death. 

INTEREST  IN  CHRIST,  a 
term  often  made  use  of  im  the  reli- 
gious v/orld  ;  and  implies  our  hav- 
ing a  right  to  claim  him  as  our  me- 
diator, surety,  advocate^  and  savi- 
our, and  with  him  all  those  spiri- 
tual bl-essings  which  are  purchased 
and  applied  by  him  to  those  whom 
he  has  redeemed.  The  term, 
*'  hav'mg  a  right  to  claim  him^'' 
perhaps,  is  preierable  to  that  often 
used, "  being  enabled  to  claim  him^'' 
as  many  have  an  interest  in  Christ 
who  are  destitute  of  that  assurance 
■which  gives  them  a  comfortable 
sense  thereof.  Ridgley's  Div.^  228, 
3d  edit. ;  Pike'^sCases  of  Conscience^ 
p.  130. 

INTERIM,  the  name  of  a  for- 
mulary, or  confession  of  faith,  ob- 
truded upon  the  Protestants,  after 
the  death  of  Luther,  by  the  em- 
peror Charles  V,  when  he  had  de- 
feated their  forces.  It  was  so 
called,  because  it  was  only  to  take 
place  in  the  interim^  till  a  general 
council  should  decide  all  the 
paints  in  question  between  the 
Protestants  and  Catholics.  The 
occasion  of  it  was  this  :  The  em- 
peror had  made  choice  of  three 
divines,  vi2.  Julius  Phlug,  bishop 
of  Naumberg;  Michael  Helding, 
titular  bishop,  of  Sidon  :  ar.d  John 


Agricola,  preacher  to  the  elector 
of  Brandenburgh ;  who  drew  up  a 
project,  consisting  of  26  articles, 
concerning  the  points  of  religion 
in  dispute  between  the  Catholics 
and  Protestants.  Tne  controvert- 
ed points  v»rere,  the  state  of  Adam 
before  and  after  his  fall;  the 
redemption  of  mankind  by^  Je- 
sus Christ ;  the  justification  of  sin- 
ners ;  charity  and  good  works  j 
the  confidence  we  ought  to  have  in 
God  ;  that  our  sins  are  remitted  j 
the  church  and  its  true  marks,  its 
power,  its  authority,  and  minis-^ 
ters ;  the  pope  and  bishops ;  the 
sacraments  ;  the  mass  ;  the  com- 
memoration of  saints  ;  their  in- 
tercession ;  and  prayers  for  the 
dead. 

The  emperor  sent  this  project 
to  the  pope  for  his  approbation, 
which  he  refused;  whereupon 
Charles  V  published  the  imperial 
constitution,  called  the  Interim, 
wherein  he  declared,  that  "  it 
was  his  will,  that  all  his  Catholic 
dominions  should,  for  the  future, 
inviolably  observe  the  customs, 
statutes,  and  ordinances  of  the 
universal  church  ;  and  that  those 
who  had  separated  themselves 
from  it  should  either  reunite  them- 
selves to  it,  or,  at  least,  conform  to 
this  constitution ;  and  that  all 
should  quietly  accept  the  decisions 
of  the  general  council.'"'  This  or- 
dinance was  published  in  the  diet 
of  Augsburg,  May  \5^  1548;  but 
this  device  neither  pleased  the  pope 
nor  the  Protestants :  the  Lutheran 
preachers  openly  declared  they 
would  not  receive  it,  alleging 
that  it  re-established  popery:  some 
chose  rather  to  quit  their  chairs 
and  livings  than  to  subscribe  it ; 


INT 


435 


INT 


nor  would  the  duke  of  Saxony 
receive  it.  Calvin,  and  several 
others,  wrote  against  it.  On  the 
other  side,  the  emperor  was  soi  se- 
vere against  those  who  refused  to 
accept  it,  that  he  disfranchised  the 
cities  of  Magdeburg  and  Con- 
statxce  for  their  opposition. 

INTERMEDIATE  STATE, 
a  term  made  use  of  to  denote  the 
state  of  the  soul  between  death 
and  the  resurrection.  From  the 
scriptures  speaking  frequently  of 
the  dead  as  sleeping  in  their  graves, 
many  have  supposed  that  the  soul 
sleeps  till  the  resurrection,  i.  e.  is 
in  a  state  of  entire  insensibility. 
But  against  this  opinion,  and  that 
the  soul,  after  death,  enters  im- 
mediately into  a  state  of  reward 
or  punishment,  the  following  pas- 
sages seem  to  be  conclusive.  Matt. 
xviij  3*  Luke  xxiii,  42.  2d  Cor. 
V,  6.  Phil,  i,  2  I.Luke  xvi,  22,23. 
Rev.  vi,  9.  See  articles  Resur- 
rection, Soul,  and  Future 
State;  Bishop  Laxv's  Appendix 
to  his  Theory  of  Religion  ;  Seardi's 
Light  of  Nature  pursued;  Bemiefs 
Olam  Haneshamoth^  or  View  of  the 
Intermediate  State ;  Archdeacon 
Blackhurne' s  Historical  Viexv  of  the 
Controversy  concerning  an  Inter- 
mediate State^  and  the  separate  Ex- 
istence of  the  Soul  betxoeen  Death 
and  the  general  Resurrection  ;  in 
which  last  the-  reader  will  find  a 
large  account  of  the  writings  on 
this  subject,  from  the  beginning  of 
the  re  formation  to  almost  the  pre- 
sent time.  See,  also,  Doddridge'' s 
Lectures^  lect.  219. 

INTERPRETING  OF 
TO  N  G  U  E  S,  a  gift  bestowed  on 
the  apostles  and  primitive  chris- 
tians, so   thnt  in  a  mixt  ussemblv 


consisting  of  perisons  of  different 
nations,  if  one  spoke  iii  a  language 
understood  bf  one  part,  another 
could  repeat  and  translate  what  he 
said  into  differentlanguages  under- 
stood by  others,  1st  Cor.  xii,  10. 
1st  Cor.  xiv,  5,  6,  13. 

INTOLERANCE  is  a  word 
chiefly  used  in  reference  to  those 
pers  jns,  churches,  or  societies,  who 
do  not  allow  men  to  think  forthem- 
selves,  but  impose  on  them  articles, 
creeds,  ceremonies.  Sec,  of  their 
own  devising.  See  Toleration. 
Nothing  is  more  abhorrent  frona 
the  genius  of  the  christian  religion 
than  an  intolerant  spirit,  or  an  in- 
tolerant church.  "  It  has  inspir- 
ed its  votaries  with  a  savage  fero- 
city ;  has  plunged  the  fatal  dagger 
into  innocent  blood  ;  depopulated 
towns  and  kingdoms  ;  overthrown 
states  and  empires,  and  brought 
down  the  righteous  vengeance  of 
heaven  upon  a  guilty  world.  The 
pretence  of  superior  knowledge, 
sanctity,  and  authority  for  its  sup- 
port, is  the  disgi-ace  of  reason,  the 
grief  of  wisdom,  and  the  pai^nxysni 
of  folly.  To  fetter  the  conscience, 
is  injustice;  to  ensnare  it,  is  an 
act  of  sacrilege  ;  but  to  torture  it, 
by  an  attempt  to  force  its  feelings, 
is  horrible  intolerance  ;  it  is  the 
most  abandoned  violation  of  all 
the  maxims  of  religion  and  mora- 
lity. Jesus  Christ  formed  a  king- 
dom purely  spiritual ;  the  apostles 
,  exercised  only  a  spiritual  authority 
underthe  directionof  Jesus  Christ; 
particular  churches  were  united 
only  by  faith  and  love  ;  in  all  civil 
affairs  they  submitted  to  civil 
magistracy  ;  axid  in  religious  coi:\- 
cerns  they  were  governed  by  the 
reasoning,  advice,  and  exhortations 


IN  V 


'-^36 


JO  A 


of  their  own  officers:  their  cen- 
sures were  only  honest  reproofs ; 
and  their  excommunications  were 
only  declarations  that  such  of- 
fenders, being  incorrigible,  were 
no  longer  accounted  meftibers  of 
their  communities."  Let  it  ever 
be  remembered,  therefore,  that  no 
man  or  men  have  any  authority 
whatever  from- Christ  to  domineer 
over  the  consciences  or  persecute 
the  persons  of  any  whose  religious 
principles  agree  not  with  their 
own.  See  LoxuelPs  Sermons^  ser.  6 ; 
Robinson's  Claude^  vol.  ii,  p.  227, 
299;  Sauriri's  Ser.^  3d  vol.,  p.  30, 
preface  ;  Locke  on  Government  and 
Toleration, 

INTREPIDITY,  a  disposition 
of  mind  unaffected  with  fear  at  the 
approach  of  danger.  Resolution 
either  banishes  fear  or  surmounts 
it,  and  is  firm  on  all  occasions. 
Courage  is  impatient  to  attack, 
undertakes  boldly,  and  is  not  les- 
sened by  difficulty.  Valour  acts 
with  vigour  gives  no  way  to  re- 
sistance, but  pursues  an  enterprise 
in  spite  of  opposition.  Bravery 
knows  no  fear  ;  it  runs  nobly  into 
danger,  and  prefers  honour  to  life 
itself.  Intrepidity  encounters  the 
greatest  p^oints  with  the  utmost 
coolness,  and  dares  even  present 
death.  See  Courage,  Forti- 
tude. 

INyESTITURE  in  ecclesias- 
tical policy,  is  the  act  of  confer- 
ring any  benefice  on  another.  It 
was  customary  for  princes  to  make 
investiture  of  ecclesiastical  bene- 
fices, by  delivering  to  the  person 
they  had  chosen  a  pastoral  staff  and 
a  ring.  The  account  of  this  cere- 
mony may  be    seen    at   large    in 


MosheinCs  EcdesiasticalHist.^  cent, 
xi,  part  ii,  chap.  ii. 

INVISIBLES,  a  name  of  dis- 
tinction given  to  the  disciples  of 
Osiander,Flacius,Illyricus,Swenk- 
feld,  &c.  because  they  denied  the 
perpetual  visibility  of  the  church, 

INVOCATION,  a  calling  up- 
on God  in  prayer.  It  is  generally 
considered  as  the  first  part  of  that 
necessary  duty,  and  includes,  1. 
A  making  mention  of  one  or  more 
of  the  names  or  titles  of  God,  in- 
dicative of  the  object  to  whom  we 
pray. — 2.  A  declaration  of  our 
desire  and  design  to  worship  him. 
— And,  3.  A  desire  of  his  assist- 
ance and  acceptance,  under  a  sense 
of  our  own  unworthiness.  In  the 
church  of  Rome,  invocation  also 
signifies  adoration  of  and  prayers 
to  the  saints.  The  council  of 
Trent  expressly  teaches,  that  the 
saints  who  reign  with  Jesus  Christ 
offer  up  their  prayers  to  God  for 
men,  and  condemn  those  who 
maintain  the  contrary  doctrine. 
The  Protestants  censure  and  reject 
this  opinion,  as  contrary  to  scrip- 
ture ;  deny  the  truth  of  the  fact ; 
and  think  it  highly  unreasonable 
to  suppose  that  a  limited,  finite 
Being  should  be  in  a  ntianner  om- 
nipresent, and,  at  one  and  the 
same  time,  hear  and  attend  to  the 
prayers  that  are  offered  up  to  him 
in  England,  China,  and  Peru ; 
and  from  hence  infer,  that,  if  the 
saints  cannot  hear  their  request, 
it  is  inconsistent  with  common 
sense  to  address  any  kind  of  pray- 
er to  thcrn. 

JOACHIMITES,the  disciples 
of  Joachim,  abbot  of  Flora,  in  Ca- 
labria. Joachim  was  a  Cistertian 


JO  A 


437 


J  O  Y 


monk,  and  a  greater  pretender  to 
inspiration.  He  relates  of  him- 
self, that,  being  very  young,  he 
went  to  Jerusalem  in  the  dress  of 
a  hermit  to  visit  the  holy  places  ; 
and  that,  while  he  was  in  prayer  to 
God  in  the  church  of  that  city, 
God  communicated  to  him,  by  in- 
fusion, the  knowledge  of  divine 
mysteries,  and  of  the  holy  scrip- 
tures. He  wrote  against  Lom- 
bard, the  master  of  the  sentences, 
who  had  maintained  that  there 
was  but  one  essence  in  God,  though 
there  were  three  persons  ;  and  he 
pretended,  that,  since  there  were 
three  persons,  there  must  be  three 
essences.  This  dispute  v/as  in  the 
year  1195.  Joachim's  writings 
were  condemned  by  the  fourth 
Lateran  council. 

His  followers,  the  Joachimites, 
were  particularly  fond  of  certain 
ternaries.  The  Father,  they  said, 
operated  from  the  beginning  un- 
til the  coming  of  the  Son ;  the 
Son  from  that  time  to  their's,  viz. 
the  year  1260;  and  the  Holy 
Spirit  then  took  it  up,  and  was  to 
operate  in  his  turn.  They  like- 
wise divided  every  thing  relating 
to  men,  doctrine,  and  manner  of 
living,  into  three  classes,  according 
to  the  three  persons  of  the  Trinity. 
The  Jirst  ternary  was  that  of 
men  ;  of  whom,  the  first  class  was 
that  of  married  men,  which  had 
lasted  during  the  whole  period  of 
the  Father ;  the  second  was  that 
of  clerks,  which  lasted  during  the 
time  of  the  Son  ;  and  the  last  was 
that  of  Monks,  wherein  was  to  be 
an  uncommon  effusion  of  grace  by 
the  Holv  Spirit.The  second  ternary 
v/as  that  of  doctrine,  viz.  the  Old 
Testament,  the  New,  and  the  ever- 
lasting   Gospel :    the    first    they 


ascribed  to  the  Father,  the  se- 
cond to  the  Son,  and  the  third  to 
the  Holy  Spirit.  A  third  ternary 
consisted  in  the  manner  of  living, 
viz.  under  the  Father,  men  lived 
according  to  the  flesh  ;  under  the 
Son,  they  lived  according  to  the 
flesh  and  the  spirit ;  and  under  the 
Holy  Ghost,  they  were  to  live  ac- 
cording to  the  spirit  only. 

JOHN,  ST.  Christians  of.  See 
Christians. 

JO  Y,  a  delight  of  the  mind  aris- 
ing from  the  consideration  of  a 
present  or  assured  approaching 
possession  of  a  future  good. 
When  it  is  moderate,  it  is  called 
gladness ;  \Nh.QnY3d%e.d  on  a  sud- 
den to  the  highest  degree,  it  is 
then  exultation  or  transport ;  when 
we  limit  our  desires  by  our  pos- 
sessions, it  is  contentment ;  when 
our  desires  are  raised  high,  and 
yet  accomplished,  this  is  called  sa- 
tisfaction; when  our  joy  is  derived 
from  some  comical  occasion  or 
amusement,  it  is  mirth;  if  it 
arise  from  considerable  opposition 
that  is  vanquished  in  the  pursuit 
of  the  good  we  desire,  it  is  then 
called  triumph ;  when  joy  has  so 
long  possessed  the  mind  that  it  is 
settled  into  a  temper,  we  call  it 
cheerfuhiess  ;  when  we  rejoice  up- 
on the  account  of  any  good  which 
others  obtain,  it  may  be  called 
sympathy  or  congratulation.  This 
is  natural  joy  ;  but  there  _  is, — 2j 
A  moral  joy^  which  is  a  self-ap- 
probation, or  that  which  arises 
from  the  performance  of  any  good 
actions ;  this  is  called  peace,  or 
serenity  of  conscience :  if  the 
action  be  honourable,  and  the  joy 
rise  high,  it  may  be  called  glory. 
— 3.  There  is  also  tx.  spiritual  joy ^ 
which  the  scripture  calls  a  "  fruit 


I  SB 


438 


ITI 


of  the  Spirit,"  Gal.  v,  22.  "then 
joy  of  faith,"  Phil,  i,  25-  and  "  the  || 
rejoicing   of  hope,"  Heb.   iii,   6.  |j 
The  objects  of  it  are  ^  1.  God  him- 
self, Ps.  xliii,  4.  Is.  Ixvi,    10.— 2. 
Christ,  Phil,  iii,  3.  1st  Pet.  i,  8. — 

3.  The  promises,  Ps.  cxix,  162. — 

4.  The  administration  of  the  gos- 
pel, ahd  gospel  ordinances,  Ps. 
Ixxxix,  15. — 5.  The  prosperity  of 
the  interest  of  Christ,  Acts  xv,  3. 
Rev.  xl,  15,  17. — 6.  The  happi- 
ness of  a  future  state,  Rom.  v,  2. 
Matt.  XXV.  The  nature  and  pro- 
perties of  this  joy :  1.  It  is  or 
should  be  constant,  Phil,  iv,  4. — 
2.  It  is  unknown  to  the  men  of  j 
the  world,  1st  Cor.  ii,  14. — 3.  It  is 
unspeakable,  1st  Pet.  i,  8. — 4.  It 
is  permanent,  John  xvi,  22.  Watts  \ 
on  Pass.,  sect.  11;  GiWs  Body  of} 
i)iu.,  p.  Ill,  3d  vol.,  8vo.  edit.; 
Grove'*s  Mor.  Phil.  vol.  i,  p.  356.    I 

JOY  OF  GOD  relates,  1.  To; 
the  delight  and  complacency  he ; 
has  in  himself,  his  own  nature,  and ' 
perfections. — 2.  He  rejoices  in  his  [ 
own  works,  Ps.  civ,  31. — 3.  In  his  i 
Son  Christ  Jesus,  Matt,  iii,  17.  j 
- — 4.  In  the  work  of  redemption,  \ 
John  iii,  15. — -5.  In  the  subjects  | 
of  his  grace,  Ps.  cxlvii,  11.  Zeph. 
iii,  17.  Ps.  cxlix,  4. 

IRRESISTIBLE    GRACE. 
See  Grace.  j 

ISBRANIKI,  a  denomination! 
Mdiich  appeared  in   Russia  about! 
the  year  1666,  and  asstmied  this  j 
name,  which  signifies  the  multi-| 
tude  of  the  elect.     But  they  were  j| 
called  by   tlieir  adversaries    Rol- 1 
skolsnika,  or  the  seditious  faction. 
They  professed  a  rigorous  zeal  for 
the  letter  of  the    holv  -scriptures. 
They  maintained  that  there  is  no 
subordination  of  rank  among  the 
faithful,  and  that  a  Christian  may 


kill  himself  for  the  love  of  Christ. 
ISRAELITES, the  descendants 
of  Israel,  v/ho  were  at  first  called 
Hebrews,  by  reason  of  Abraham, 
who  came  from  the  other  side  of 
the  Euphrates;  and  afterwai"ds 
Israelites,  from  Israel,  the  father 
of  the  tw^elve  patriarchs ;  and, 
lastly,  Jews,  particularly  after 
their  return  from  the  captivity  of 
Babylon,  because  the  tribe  of  Judah 
was  then  much  stronger  and  more 
numerous  than  the  other  tribes, 
and  foreigners  had  scarce  any 
knowledge  of  this  tribe.  For  the 
history  of  this  people,  see  article 
Jews. 

ITINERANT  PREACH- 
ERS, those  who  are  not  settled 
over  any  particular  congregation, 
but  go  from  place  to  place  for  the 
purpose  of  preaching  to  and  in- 
structing the  ignorant.  A  great 
deal  has  been  said  against  persons 
of  this  description  ;  and,  it  must 
be  acknowledged,  that  there  would 
not  be  so  much  necessity  for  them, 
were  every  minister  of  his  parish 
to  do  his  duty.  But  the  sad  de- 
clension of  morals  in  many  places; 
the  awful  ignorance  that  prevails 
as  to  God  and  real  religion ;  the 
little  or  no  exertion  of  those  who 
are  the  guides  of  the  people; 
"•  villages  made  up  of  a  train  of 
idle,  profligate,  and  miserable 
poor,  and  where  the  barbarous 
rhymes  in  their  church-yards  in- 
form us  that  they  are  all  either 
gone  or  going  to  heaven ;"  these 
things,  with  a  varietv  of  others, 
form  a  sufficient  reason  for  every 
able  and  benevolent  person  to  s,tep 
forward,  and  to  do  all  that  lie  can 
to  enlighten  the  minds,  lessen  the 
miseries,  and  promote  the  Vv'elfare 
of  his   fellow-creatures.     A  cler- 


JUB 


439 


JUB 


gv  man  of  the  church  of  England, 
of  respectable  talents,  very  ju- 
diciously observes,  that,  "  Not- 
Avithstapding  the  prejudices  of 
mankind,  and  the  indiscretions  of 
some  individuals,  an  itinerant 
teacher  is  one  of  the  most  honour- 
able and  useful  characters  that 
can  be  foUnd  upon  earth;  and 
there  needs  no  other  proof  than 
the  experience  of  the  church  in 
all  ages,  that,  when  this  work  is 
done  properly  and  with  persever- 
ance, it  forms  the  grand  method 
of  spreading  wide  and  rendering 
efficacious  religious  knowledge, 
for  great  reformations  and  reviv- 
als of  religion  have  uniformly  been 
thus  effected  ;  and  it  is  especially 
sanctioned  by  the  example  of 
Christandhis  aposjJes,  and  recom- 
mended as  the  divine  method  of 
spreading  the  gospel  through  the 
nations  of  the  earth ;  itinerant 
preaching  having  almost  always 
preceded  and  made  way  for  the  so- 
lid ministry  of  regular  pastors. 
But  it  is  a  work  which  requires  pe- 
culiar talents  and  dispositions,  and 
a  peculiar  call  in  God's  providence ; 
and  is  not  rashly  and  hastily  to  be 
ventured  uponby  every  novice  who 
has  learned  to  speak  about  the  gos- 
pel, and  has  more  zeal  than  know- 
ledge, prudence,  humility,  or  ex- 
perience. An  unblemished  cha- 
racter, a  disinterested  spirit,  an 
exemplary  deadness  to  the  world, 
unaffected  humility,  deep  ac- 
c^uaintance  with  the  human  heart, 
and  preparation  for  enduring  the 
cross  not  only  with  boldness,  but 
with  meekness,  patience,  and 
sweetness  of  temper,  are  indispen- 
sably necessary  for  such  a  service." 
JUBILEE,  a  public  festivity. 
Among  the  Jews  it  was  held  every 


49th  or  50th  year.  It  was  pro- 
!  claimed  with  the  sound  of  ram's 
horns  :  no  servile  work  was  done 
on  it ;  the  land  lay  untilled;  what 
grew  of  itself  belonged  to  the  poor 
and  needy :  v.hatev'^er  debts  the 
Hebrev/s  owed  to  one  another 
were  wholly  remitted;  hired  as 
well  as  bond  servants  of  the  He- 
brew race  obtained  their  liberty  ; 
inheritances  reverted  to  their  ori- 
ginal proprietors.  See  25th  chap. 
Leviticus.  Jubilee,  in  a  more 
modern  sense,  denotes  a  grand 
church  solemnity  or  cerejnony  ce- 
lebrated at  Rome,  wherein  the 
pope  gi"ants  a  plenary  indulgence 
to  all  sinners  ;  at  least  to  as  many 
as  visit  the  churches  of  St.  Peter 
and  St.  Paul,  at  Rome.  The  ju- 
bilee was  first  established  by  Boni- 
face VII,  in  1300,  whic^  was 
only  to  return  every  hundred 
years;  but  the  first  celebration 
brought  in  such  store  of  wealth, 
that  Clement  VI,  in  1343,  re- 
duced it  to  the  period  of  fifty 
years.  Urban  VI,  in  1389,  ap- 
pointed it  to  be  held  every  thirty- 
five  years,  that  being  the  age  of 
our  Saviour;  and  Paul  II,  and 
Sixtus  IV,  in  1475,  brought  \t 
down  to  every  twenty-five,  that 
every  person  might  have  the  bene- 
fit of  it  once  in  his  life.  Boni- 
face IX  granted  the  privilege  of 
holding  jubilees  to  several  princes 
and  monasteries  ;  for  instance,  to 
monks  of  Canterbury,  who  had  a 
jubilee  every  fifty  years,  when 
people  flecked  from  all  parts  to 
visit  the  tomb  of  Thomas-a-Beck- 
et. — Afterwards  jubilees  became 
more  frequent :  there  is  generally 
one  at  the  inauguration  of  a  new 
pope  ;  and  the  pope  grants  them 
as  often  as  the  church  or  himself 


JU  D 


440 


JUD 


have  occasion  for  them.  To  be 
entitled  to  the  privileges  of  the  ju- 
bilee, the  bull  enjoins  fasting,  alms, 
and  prajers.  It  gives  the  priests 
a  full  power  to  absolve  in  all 
cases,  even  those  otherwise  re- 
served to  the  pope  ;  to  make  com- 
mutations of  vows,  &c.,  in  which 
it  differs  from  a  plenary  indul- 
gence. During  the  time  of  jubi- 
lee, all  other  indulgences  are  sus- 
pended. One  of  our  kings,  viz. 
Edward  III,  caused  his  birth-day 
to  be  observed  in  the  manner  of  a 
jubilee,  when  he  became  fifty 
years  of  age,  in  1362,  but  never 
before  nor  after.  This  he  did  by 
releasing  prisoners,  pardoning  all 
offences  except  treason,  making 
good  laws,  and  granting  many 
privileges  to  the  people.  In  1640, 
the  Jesuits  celebrated  a  solemn 
jubilee  at  Rome,  that  being  the 
c^entenary,  or  hundredth  year 
from  their  institution;  and  the 
same  ceremony*  was  observed  in 
all  their  houses  throughout  the 
world. 
JUDAISING  CHRISTIANS: 
the  first  rise  of  this  denomination 
is  placed  under  the  reign  of  Adri- 
an. For  when  this  emperor  had 
at  length  razed  Jerusalem,  entirely 
destroyed  its  very  foundations,  and 
enacted  laws  of  the  severest  kind 
against  the  whole  body  of  the 
Jewish  people,  the  greatest  part 
of  the  Christians  who  lived  in  Pa- 
lestine, to  prevent  their  being  con- 
founded with  the  Jews,  abandon- 
ed entirely  the  Mosaic  rites,  and 
chose  a  bishop,  namely  Mark,  a 
foreigner  by  nation,  and  an  alien 
"from  the  commonwealth  of  Israel. 
Those  who  were  sfi'ongly  attached 
to  the  Mosaic  rites  separated  from 


their  brethren,  and  founded  at 
Pera,  a  country  of  Palestine,  and 
in  the  neighbouring  parts,  parti- 
cular assemblies,  in  which  the  law 
of  Moses  maintained  its  primitive 
dignity,  authority,  and  lustre. 
The  body  of  Judaising  Christians, 
which  set  Moses  and  Christ  upon 
an  equal  footing  in  point  of  autho- 
rity, were  afterwards  divided  in- 
to two  sects,  extremely  different 
both  in  their  rites  and  opinions, 
and  distinguished  by  the  names 
of  Nazarenes  and  Ebionites, 
which  see. 

JUDAISM,  the  religious  doc- 
trines and  rites  of  the  Jews,  the 
descendants  of  Abraham.  Judaism 
was  but  a  temporary  dispensation^ 
and  was  to  give  way,  at  least  the 
ceremonial  part  of  it,  at  the 
coming  of  the  Messiah.  The  prin- 
cipal sects  among  the  Jews  were 
the  Pharisees,  who  placed  reli- 
gion in  external  ceremory ;  the 
Sadducees,  who  were  remarkable 
for  their  incredulity  ;  and  the  Es- 
senes,  who  were  distinguished  ■ 
for  their  austere  sanctity.  At 
present,  the  Jews  have  two  sects  ; 
the  Cardites^  who  admit  no  rule 
of  religion  but  the  law  of  Moses ; 
and  the  Rabbimsts^  who  add  to  the 
law  the  traditions  of  the  Talmud. 
See  those  articles,  and  books  re- 
commended under  article  Jews, 
in  this  work. 

JUDGING  RASH,  the  act  of 
carelessly,  precipitately,  wantonly, 
or  maliciousl}^  censuring  others. 
This  is  an  evil  which  abounds  too 
much  among  almost  all  classes  of 
men.  "  Not  contented,  with  being 
in  the  right  ourselves,  we  must 
find  all  others  in  the  wrong.  We 
cham  an  exclusive  possession  of 


JUD 


441 


JUD 


goodness  and  wisdom  ;  and  from 
approving  warmly  of  those  who 
join  us,  we  proceed  to  condemn, 
with  much  acrimony,  not  only  the 
principles,  but  the  characters  of 
those  from  whom  we  differ.  We 
rashly  extend  to  every  individual 
the  severe  opinion  which  we  have 
unwarrantably  conceived  of  a 
whole  body.  This  man  is  of  a 
party  whose  principles  we  reckon 
slavish  ;  and  therefore  his  whole 
sentiments  are  corrupted.  That 
man  belongs  to  a  religious  sect, 
which  we  are  accustomed  to  deem 
bigoted  ;  and  therefore  he  is  inca- 
pable of  any  generous  and  libe- 
ral thought.  Another  is  connect- 
ed with  a  sect,  which  we  have  been 
taught  to  account  relaxed  ;  and 
therefore  he  can  have  no  sanctity. 
We  should  do  well  to   consider, 

1.  That  this  practice  of  rash  judg- 
ing is  absolutely  forbidden  in  the 
sacred  scriptures,  Matt,  vii,  1. — 

2.  We  thereby  authorize  others  to 
requite  us  in  the  same  kind. — 3. 
It  often  evidences  our  pride,  envy, 
and  bigotry. — i.  It  argues  a  want 
of  charity,  the  distinguishing  fea- 
ture of  the  Christian  religion. — 5. 
They  who  are  most  forward  in 
censuring  others  are  often  most 
defective  themselves.  Barrozv's 
Works^  vol.  i,  ser.  20;  Blair''s  Ser., 
ser.  10,  vol.  ii ;  Sauriii's  Ser.^  ser. 
4,  vol.  V. 

JUDGMENT  is  that  act  of  the 
mind  whereby  one  thing  is  affirm- 
ed or  denied  of  another ;  or  that 
power  of  the  soul  which  passes 
sentence  on  things  proposed  to  its 
examination,  and  determines  what 
is  right  or  wrong;  and  thus  it  ap- 
jnoves  or  disapproves  of  an  action, 
or  an  object  considered  as   true 

Vol,  I.  3  L 


or  false,  or  utifit,  good  or  evil. 
Dr.  Watts  gives  tis  the  following 
directions  to  assist  us  in  judging 
right.  1.  We  should  examine  all 
our  old  opinions  afresh,  and  en- 
quire what  was  the  ground  of 
them,  and  whether  our  assent 
were  built  on  just  evidence  ;  and 
then  we  should  cast  off  all  those 
judgments  which  were  formed 
heretofore  without  due  exami- 
nation.— 2.  All  our  ideas  of  ob- 
jects, concerning  which  we  pass 
judgment,  should  be  clear, distinct, 
complete,  comprehensive,  exten- 
sive, and  orderly. — 3.  When  we 
have  obtained  as  clear  ideas  as 
we  can,  both  of  the  subject  and 
predicate  of  a  proposition,  then 
we  must  compare  those  ideas  of 
the  subject  and  predicate  together 
with  the  utmost  attention,  and 
observe  how  far  they  agree,  and 
wherein  they  differ. — 4.  We  must 
search  for  evidence  of  truth  with 
diligence  and  honesty,  and  be 
heartily  ready  to  receive  evidence, ' 
whether  for  the  agreement  or  dis- 
agreement of  ideas. — 5.  We  must 
suspend  our  judgment,  and  nei- 
ther affirm  or  deny  until  this  evi- 
dence appear. — 6.  We  must  judge 
!  of  every  proposition  by  those  pro- 
per and  peculiar  means  or  medi- 
ums whereby  the  evidence  of  it  is 
to  be  obtained,  whether  it  be  sense, 
consciousness,  intelligence,  reason, 
or  testimony. — 7.  It  is  very  useful 
to  have  some  general  principles  of 
truth  settled  in  the  mind,  whose 
evidence  is  great  and  obvious,  that 
the)'  may  be  always  ready  at 
hand  to  assist  us  in  judging  of  the 
great  varietv  of  things  which  oc- 
cur.— 8.  Let  the  degrees  of  our 
assent  to  every  proposition  bear  an 


JUD 


442 


JUD 


exact  proportion  to  the  clJfFcrent 

degrees  of   evidence. 9.  We 

should  keep  our  minds  always 
open  to  receive  truth,  and  never 
set  limits  to  our  own  improve- 
ments»  Watts^s  Logic^  ch.  4,  p. 
231  ;  Locke  on  the  Understandings 
p.  2^%  256,  vol.  i  ;  p.  271,  278, 
vol.  ii  ;  Duncan'' s  Logic^  p.  145  ; 
Reid  on  the  Intellectual  Ponvers^  p. 

.  JUDGMENT  LAST,  the  sen- 
tence that  will  be  passed  on  our  ac- 
tions at  the  last  day. 

I.  The  proofs  of  a  general  judg- 
ment t^x^  these  :  1.  The  justice  of 
God  requires  it ;  for  it  is  evident 
that  this  attribute  is  not  clearly 
displayed  in  the  dispensation  of 
things  in  the  present  state.  2d 
Thess.  i,  6,  7.  Luke  xiv,  26. — 2. 
The  accusations  of  natural  con- 
science are  te.'ytimonies  in  favour 
of  this  belief,  Rom.  ii,  15.  Dan.  v, 
5,  6.  Acts  xxiv,  25. — 3.  It  may 
be  concluded  from  the  relation 
men  stand  in  to  God,  as  creatures 
to  a  creator.  He  has  a  right  to 
give  them  a  law,  and  to  make 
them  accountable  for  the  breach 
of  rf,  Rom.  xiv,  12. — 4.  The  re- 
surrection of  Christ  is  a  certain 
proof  of  it.  See  Acts  xvii,  31. 
Rom.  xiv,  9. — 5.  The  scripture, 
in  u  vai'ietv  oi  places,  sets  it  be- 
yond all  doubt,  Jude  xiv,  15.  2d 
Cor,  v,  10.  Matt.  xxv.  Rom.  xiv^ 
id,  H.  2d  Thess.  i,  7,  10.  1st 
Thess.  iv,  16,  17. 

\\^  As  to  the  Judge:  the 
Bible  declares  that  God  will 
judge  the  world  by  Jesus  Christ, 
Acts  xviii,  31.  The  triune  God 
■will  be  the  Judge,  as  to  original 
authorit}^,  power,  and  right  of 
judgment ;  but,  according  to  the 


ceconomy  settled  between  the 
three  Divine  persons,  the  work 
is  assigned  to  the  Son.  Ro- 
mans xiv,  9  and  10,  Avho  will  ap- 
pear in  his  human  nature,  John  v, 
27.  Acts  xvii,  31.  with  great- 
power  and  glory,  1st  Thess.  iv,  16^ 
17.  visible  to  every  eye,  Rev»  i,  7. 
penetrating  every  htart,  1st  Cor. 
iv,  5.  Rom.  ii,  16.  with  full  au- 
thority over  all,  Matt,  xxviii,  18. 
and  acting  with  strict  justice,  2d 
Tim.  iv,  8.  As  for  the  concern 
of  others  in  the  judgment  j  angels 
will  be  no  otherwise  concerned 
than  as  attendants,  gathering  the 
elect,  raising  the  dead,  &c.,  but 
not  as  advising  or  judging.  Saints 
are  said  to  judge  tht  world;  not 
as  co-judges  with  Christ,  but  as 
approvers  of  his  sentence,  and  as 
their  holy  lives  and  conversations 
will  rise  up  in  judgment  against 
their  wicked  neighbf)urs. 

III.  As  to  the  persons  that  xvUt 
be  judged :  these  will  be  men  and 
devils.  The  righteous,  probably, 
w;li  be  tried  first,  as  represented  in 
Matt.  xxv.  They  will  be  raised 
first,  though  perhaps  not  a  thou- 
sand years  before  the  rest,  as  Dr. 
Gill  supposes  ;  since  the  resurrec- 
tion of  all  the  bodies  of  the  saints 
is  spoken  of  as  in  a  moment,  in  the 
twinkling  of  an  eye,  at  the  last 
trump,  in  order  to  their  meeting 
the  Lord  in  the  air,  and  being  with 
him  not  on  earth,  but  for  ever  in 
heaven^  1st  Cor.  xv,  52. 1st  Thess. 
iv,  16,  17. 

Here  we  may  take  notice  of  a 
difficult  question  which  is  pro- 
posed by  some,  namely.  Whether 
the  sins  of  God^s  people  shall  be 
published  in  the  great  day^  though 
it  is  certain  they  shall  not  be  al- 


JUD 


44! 


JUD 


leged  against  them  to  their  con- 
demnation ?  "  This,"  says  Dr. 
Ridglev,  "  is  one  of  the  secret 
things  which  belong  to  God,  which 
he  has  not  so  fully  or  clearly  re- 
vealed to  us  in  his  word  ;  and 
therefore  we  can  say  little  more 
than  what  is  matter  of  conjecture 
about  it.  Some  have  thought  that 
the  sins  of  the  godly,  though  for- 
given, shall  be  made  manifest,  that 
so  the  glory  of  that  grace  which 
has  pardoned  them  may  appear 
more  illustrious,  and  their  obliga- 
tion to  God  for  this  farther  enhan- 
ced. They  also  think,  that  the  jus- 
tice of  the  proceedings  of  that  day 
requires  it,  since  it  is  presumed 
and  known  by  the  whole  world  that 
they  were  prone  to  sin,  as  well  as 
others  ;  and,  before  conversion,  as 
great  sinners  as  any,  and  after  it 
their  sins  had  a  peculiar  aggrava- 
tion. Therefore,  why  should  not 
they  be  made  public,  as  a  glory 
due  to  the  justice  and  holiness 
of  God,  whose  nature  is  oppo- 
site to  all  sin  ?  And  this  they  far- 
ther suppose  to  be  necessar}'^,  that 
so  the  impartiality  of  Divine  Jus- 
tice may  appear.  Moreover, 
since  God,  by  recording  the  sins 
of  his  saints  in  scripture,  has  per- 
petuated the  knowledge  thereof; 
and  if  it  is  to  their  honour  that 
the  sins  there  mentioned  were  re- 
pented of,  as  well  as  forgiven, 
why  may  it  not  be  supposed  that 
the  sins  of  believers  shall  be  made 
known  in  the  great  day  ?  And, 
besides,  this  seems  agreeable  to 
those  expressions  of  every  word, 
and  every  action,  as  being  to  be 
brought  into  judgment,  whether 
it  be  good,  or  whether  it  be  bad. 
*'  But  it  is  supposed  by  others, 


that  though  the  making  kno^i  n  oi 
sin  that  is  subdued  and  forgiven, 
tends  to  the  advancement  of  Di- 
vine grace,  yet  it  is  sufficient  to 
answer  this  end,  as  far  as  God 
designs  it  shall  be  answered,  that 
the  sins  which  have  been  subdued 
and  forgiven  should  be  known  to 
themselves,  and  thus  forgiveness 
afford  matter  of  praise  to  God. 
Again  ;  the  expressions  of  scrip- 
ture, whereby  forgiveness  of  sin 
is  set  forth,  are  such  as  seem  to 
argue  that  those  sins  which  were 
forgiven  shall  not  be  made  mani- 
fest ^  thus  they  are  said  to  be 
blotted  out,  Isa.  xliii,  25.  covered^ 
Ps.  xxxii,  1.  suhdiied,  and  cast  into 
the  depths  of  the  sea,  Micah  vii,  19. 
and  remembered  no  more,  &c.  Jer. 
xxxi,  34.  Besides,  Christ's  being  a 
judge,  doth  not  divest  him  of  the 
character  of  an  advocate,  whose 
part  is  rather  to  conceal  the 
crimes  of  those  whose  cause  he 
pleads,  than  to  divulge  them  :  and 
to  this  we  may  add,  that  the  law 
which  requires  duty,  and  forbids 
the  contrary  sins,  is  not  the  rule 
by  W'hich  they  who  are  in  Christ 
are  to  be  proceeded  against,  for 
then  they  could  not  stand  in  judg- 
ment ;  but  they  are  dealt  with  ac- 
cording to  the  tenor  of  the  gos- 
pel, which  forgives  and  covers 
all  sin.  And,  farther,  it  is  ar- 
gued that  the  public  declaring  of 
all  their  sins  before  the  whole 
world,  notwithstanding  their  in- 
terest in.  forgiving  grace,  would 
fill  them  with  such  shame  as  is 
hardly  consistent  with  a  state  of 
perfect  blessedness.  And,  last- 
ly, the  principal  argument  in- 
sisted on  is,  that  our  Saviour,  in 
Matt.  XXV,  in  which  he  gives  a 


JUD 


444 


JUD 


particular  account  of  the  pro- 
ceedings of  that  day,  makes  no 
mention  of  the  sins,  but  only  com- 
mends the  graces  of  his  saints." 

As  to  the  wicked,  they  shall 
be  judged,  and  all  their  thoughts, 
words,  and  deeds,  be  brought  into 
judgment,  Ecc.  xii,  14.  The  fall- 
en angels,  also,  are  said  to  be  re- 
served unto  the  judgment  of  the 
great  day,  Jude  6.  They  shall  re- 
ceive their  final  sentence,  and  be 
shut  up  in  the  prison  of  hell,  Rev. 
xi,  10.  Matt,  viii,  29. 

IV.  As  to  the  rule  of  judgment : 
we  are  informed  the  books  will  be 
opened.  Rev.  xx,  12. — 1.  The 
book  of  divine  omniscience,  Mai. 
iii,  5.  or  remembrance,  INIal.  iii, 
16. — 2.  The  book  of  conscience. 
Rom.  i,  15. — 3.  The  book  of  Pro- 
vidence, Rom.  ii,  4,  5. — 4.  The 
book  of  the  scriptures,  law,  and 
gospel,  John  xii,  48.  Rom,  ii,  16. 
Rom.  ii,  12. — 5.  The  book  of  life, 
Luke  X,  20.  Rev.  iii,  5.  Rev.  xx, 
12,15. 

V.  As  to  the  time  of  judg^tnent : 
the  soul  will  be  either  happy  or 
iniserable  immediately  afterdeath, 
but  the  general  judgment  will  not 
be  till  after  the  resurrection,  Heb. 
ix,  27.  There  is  a  day  appointed. 
Acts  xvii,  31.  but  it  is  unknown 
to  men. 

VI.  As  to  the  place:  this  also 
is  uncertain.  Some  suppose  it 
will  be  in  the  air,  because  the 
Judge  will  come  in  the  clouds  of 
heaven,  and  the  living  saints  will 
then  be  changed,  and  the  dead 
saints  raised,  and  both  be  caught 
up  to  meet  the  Lord  in  the  air,  1st 
Thess.  iv,  16,  17".  Others  think 
it  will  be  on  the  earth,  on  the 
new  earth,  on  which  they  will  de- 


scend from  the  air  with  Christ. 
The  place  where ^  however,  is  of 
no  consequence,  when  compared 
with  the  state  in  ruhich  we  shall 
appear.  And  as  the  scriptures  re- 
present it  as  certain^  Eccl.  xi,  9. ' 
imiversal^  2d  Cor.  v,  11.  righteous^ 
Rom.  ii,  5.  decisive^  1st  Cor.  xv, 
52.  and  eternal  as  to  its  conse- 
quences, Heb.  vi,  2.  let  us  be 
concerned  for  the  welfare  of  our 
immortal  interests,  flee  to  the  re- 
fuge set  before  us,  improve  our 
precious  time,  depend  on  the  me- 
rits of  the  Redeemer,  and  adhere 
to  the  dictates  of  the  Divine  word, 
that  we  ma}'  be  found  of  him  in 
peace.  Bates\s  Works^  p.  449  ;  Bi- 
shop Hopkins  and  Stoddard  on  the 
Lastfudgment ;  GilVs  Body  of  Di- 
vinity^ 467,  vol.  ii,  8vo. ;  BostorCs 
Fourfold  State  ;  Herveijs  Works^ 
new  edition,  p.  72,  75^  vol.  i ;  156, 
vol.  iv  ;    82,  233,  vol.  iii. 

JUDGMENTS  OF  GOD,  are 
the  punishments  inflicted  by  him 
for  particular  crimes.  The  scrip- 
tures give  us  many  awful  in- 
stances of  the. display  of  Divine 
Justice  in  the  punishment  of  na- 
tions, families,  and  individuals,  for 
their  iniquities.  See  Gen.  vii. 
Gen.  xix,  25.  Exod.  xv.  Judges  i, 
6,  7.  Acts  xii,  23i  Esther  v,  14, 
with  ch.  vii,  10.  2d  Kings  xi. 
Lev.  X,  1,  2.  Acts  V,  1  to  10.  Is. 
jjxxx,  1  to  5.  1st  Sam.  xv,  9.  1st 
Kings  xii,  25,  oo.  It  becomes  us, 
however,  to  be  exceedingly  cau- 
tious how  we  interpret  the  severe 
and  afflictive  dispensations  of  Pro- 
vidence. Dr.  Jortin  justly  ob- 
serves, that  there  is  usually  much 
rashness  and  presumption  in  pro- 
nouncing that  the  calamities  of  sin- 
ners are  particular  judgments  of 


JUD 


445 


JUD 


God ;  yet,  saith  he,  if  from  sacred 
and  profane,  from  ancient  and 
modern  historians,  a  collection 
were  made  of  all  the  cruel  perse- 
cuting tyrants  who  delighted  in 
tormenting  their  fellow  creatures, 
and  who  died  not  the  common 
death  of  all  men,  nor  were 
visited  after  the  visitation  of  all 
men,  but  whose  plagues  were  hor- 
rible and  strange,,  even  a  sceptic 
would  be  moved  at  the  evidence, 
and  would  be  apt  to  suspect  that 
it  was  Se'oy  rij  that  the  hand  of 
God  was  in  it.  As  Dr.  Jortin 
was  no  enthusisiast,  and  one  who 
would  not  overstrain  the  point, 
we  shall  here  principally  follow 
him  in  his  enumeration  of  some 
of  the  most  remarkable  instances. 
Herod  the  Great  was  the  first 
persecutor  of  Christianity.  He 
attempted  to  destroy  Jesus  Christ 
himself,  while  he  was  yet  but  a 
child,  and  for  that  wicked  pur- 
pose slew  all  the  male  children 
that  were  in  and  about  Beth- 
lehem. What  was  the  conse- 
quence ?  Josephus  hath  told  us  : 
he  had  long  and  grievous  suf- 
ferings, a  burning  fever,  a  vo- 
racious appetite,  a  difficulty  of 
breathing,  swellings  in  his  limbs, 
loathsome  ulcers  within  and  with- 
out, breeding  vermin,  violent  tor- 
ments and  convulsions,  so  that  he 
endeavoured  to  kill  himself,  but 
was  restrained  by  his  friends. 
The  Jews  thought  these  evils  to  be 
Divine  judgments  upon  him  for 
his  wickedness.  And  what  is 
still  more  remarkable  in  his  case 
is,  he  left  a  numerous  family 
of  children  and  grand-children, 
though  he  had  put  some  to  death, 
and    yet    in    about   the   space  of 


one  hundred  years  the  whole  fa- 
mily was  extinct»^ 

Herod  Antipas,  who  beheaded 
John  the  Baptist,  and  treated 
Christ  contemptuously  when  he 
was  brought  before  him,  was  de- 
feated by  Aretas,  an  Arabian 
king,  and  afterwards  had  his  do- 
minions taken  from  him,  and  was 
sent  into  banishment  along  with 
his  infamous  wife  Herodias,  by 
the  emperor  Caius. 

Herod  Agrippa  killed  James  the 
brother  of  John,  and  put  Peter  in 
prison.  The  angel  of  the  Lord 
soon  after  smote  him,  and  he 
was  eaten  of  worms,  and  gave 
up  the  ghost. 

Judas,  that  betrayed  our  Lord, 
died,  by  his  own  hands,  the  most 
ignominious  of  all  deaths. 

Pontius  Pilate,  who  condemn- 
ed our  blessed  Saviour  to  death, 
was  not  long  afterwards  deposed 
from  his  office,  banished  from  his 
country,  and  died  by  his  own 
hands,  the  Divine  vengeance 
overtaking  him  soon  after  his 
crime. 

The  high  priest,  Caiaphas,  was 
deposed  by  Vitellius,  three  vears 
after  the  death  of  Christ.  Thus 
this  wicked  man,  who  condemned 
Christ  for  fear  of  disobliging  the 
Romans,  was.ignominiously  turn- 
ed out  of  his  office  by  the  Roman 
governor,  whom  he  had  sought  to 
oblige. 

Ananias,  the  high  priest,  per- 
secuted St.  Paul,  and  insolently 
ordered  the  by-standars  to  smite 
him  on  the  mouth.  Upon  which 
the  apostle  said,  God  .shall  smite 
t/iec,  thou  ru/iited  wall.  Whether  he 
spake  this  prophetically  or  not, 
may  be  difficult  to  say ;  but  cer- 


JUD 


446 


JUD 


•iain  it  is,  that  some  time  after  he 
was  slain,  together  with  his  bro- 
ther, by  his  own  son. 

Ananus,  the  high  priest,  slew 
St.  James  the  Less ;  for  which  and 
other  outrages  he  was  deposed  by 
king  Agn'ppa  the  younger,  and 
probably  perished  in  the  last  de- 
struction of  Jerusalem. 

Nero,  in  the  year  sixty-four, 
turned  his  rage  upon  the  Chris- 
tians, and  put  to  death  Peter  and 
Paul,  with  many  others.  Four 
years  after,  in  his  great  distress, 
he  attempted  to  kill  himself;  but 
being  as  mean-spirited  and  das- 
tardly as  he  was  wicked  and 
cruel,  he  had  not  the  resolution  to 
do  that  piece  of  justice  to  the 
world,  and  was  forced  to  beg  as- 
sistance. 

Domitian  persecuted  the  Chris- 
tians also.  It  is  said  he  threw  St. 
John  into  a  caldron  of  boiling  oil, 
and  afterwards  banished  him  into 
the  isle  of  Patmos.  In  the  fol- 
lowing year  this  monster  of  wick- 
edness was  murdered  by  his  o\m 
people. 

The  Jewish  nation  persecuted, 
rejected,  and  crucified  the  Lord  of 
glory.  Within  a  few  years  after, 
their  nation  was  destroyed,  and 
the  Lord  made  their  plagues  won- 
derful. 

Flaccus  was  governor  of  Egypt, 
near  the  time  of  our  Saviour's 
death,  and  a  violent  persecutor  of 
the  Jews.  The  wrath  of  God, 
however,  ere  long  overtook  him, 
and  he  died  by  the  hands  of 
violence. 

Catullus  was  governor  of  Lybia 
about  the  year  seventy-three.  He 
was  also  a  cruel  persecutor  of  the 
Tews,  and  he  died  miserably.    For 


though  he  was  only  turned  out  of 
his  office  by  the  Romans,  yet  he 
fell  into  a  complicated  and  incu- 
rable disease,  being  sorely  tor- 
mented both  in  body  and  mind. 
He  was  dreadfully  terrified,  and 
continually  crj'ing  out  that  he 
was  haunted  by  the  ghosts  of  those 
whom  he  had  murdered  ;  and,  not 
being  able  to  contain  himself,  he 
leaped  out  of  his  bed,  as  if  he 
were  tortured  with  fire  and  put 
to  the  rack.  His  distemper  in- 
creased till  his  entrails  were. all 
corrupted,  and  came  out  of  his 
body ;  and  thus  he  perished,  as 
signal  an  example  ias  ever  was 
known  of  the  Divine  justice  ren- 
dering to  the  wicked  according  to 
their  deeds. 

Caius,  the  Roman  emperor,  was 
a  great  persecutor  of  the  Jews  and 
Christians,  and  a  blasphemer  of 
the  God  of  heaven.  Soon  after 
his  atrocities,  however,  he  was 
murdered  by  one  of  his  own 
people. 

Severus,  emperor  of  Rome,  was 
a  violent  and  cruel  persecutor  of 
the  followers  of  Christ.  He,  also, 
and  all  his  family,  perished  miser- 
ably, about  the  year  two  hundred 
after  our  Saviour. 

About  the  same  time,  Satur- 
ninus,  governor  of  Afric,  perse- 
cuted the  Christians,  and  put  se- 
veral of  them  to  death.  Soon 
after,  he  went  blind. 

Heliogabalus,  the  emperor, 
brought  a  new  god  to  Rome,  and 
would  needs  compel  all  his  sub- 
jects to  worship  him.  This  was 
sure  to  have  ended  in  a  persecu- 
tion of  the  Christians.  But,  soon 
after,  this  vile  monster  was  slain 
by   his   own  soldiers,   about  the 


JUD 


447 


JUD 


year  two  hundred  and  twenty- 
two. 

Claudius  Herminianus  was  a 
cruel  persecutor  of  the  Christians 
in  the  second  century  ;  and  he  was 
eafen  of  worms  while  he  lived. 

Decius  persecuted  the  church 
about  the  year  two  hundred  and 
fifty  :  he  was  soon  after  killed  in 
battle. 

Gullus  succeeded,  and  continued 
the  persecution.  He,  too,  was  kill- 
ed the  year  following. 

Valerian,  the  emperor,had  many 
good  qualities  ;  but  yet  he  was  an 
implacable  enemy  to  the  Lord  Je- 
sus Christ  and  his  gospel.  Some 
time  after  he  came  to  the  throne, 
he  was  taken  prisoner  by  Sapor, 
king  of  Persia,  and  used  like  a 
slave  and  a  dog  ;  for  the  Persian 
monarch,  from  time  to  time,  ob- 
liged this  unhiippy  emperor  to  bow 
himself  down,  and  offer  him  his 
back,  on  which  to  set  his  foot,  in 
order  to  mount  his  chariot  or  his 
horse.  He  died  in  this  miserable 
state  of  captivity. 

iEmilian,  governor  of  Egypt, 
about  two  hundred  and  sixty-three, 
was  a  virulent  persecutor  of  the 
church  of  Christ.  He  was  soon 
after  strangled  by  order  of  the  em- 
peror. 

Aurelian,  the  emperor,  just  in- 
tending to  begin  a  persecution 
against  the  followers  of  Christ,  was 
killed  in  the  year  two  hundred  and 
seventy-four. 

Maximinus  was  a  persecutor  of 
the  church.  He  reigned  only  three 
years,  and  then  fell  under  the  hands 
of  violence. 

About  the  year  three  hundred 
was  the  greatest  possible  contest 
between  Christ  and  the  Koman  em- 


perors, which  should  have  the  do* 
minion.  These  illustrious  wretch- 
es seemed  determined  to  blot  out 
the  Christian  race  and  name  from 
under  heaven.  The  persecution 
was  far  more  fierce  and  brutal  than 
it  had  ever  been.  It  was  time, 
therefore,  for  the  Lord  Jesus 
Christ,  the  greathead  of  the  church, 
to  arise  and  plead  his  own  cause  s^ 
and  so,  indeed,  he  did.  The  ex- 
amples we  have  mentioned  ar6 
dreadful :  these  that  follow  are  not 
less  astonishing,  and  they  are  all 
delivered  upon  the  best  authorities. 

Dioclesiam  persecuted  the  church 
in  three  hundred  and  three.  After 
this  nothing  ever  prospered  with 
him.  He  underwent  many  trou- 
bles :  his  senses  became  impaired  j 
and  he  quitted  the  empire. 

Severus,  anotherpersecutingem- 
peror,  was  overthrown  and  put 
to  death  in  the  yearth^ee  hundred 
and  seven. 

About  the  safne  time,  Urbanus, 
governor  of  Palestine,  who  had 
signalized  himself  by  tormenting 
and  destroying  the  disciples  of  Je- 
sus, met  with  his  due  reward ;  for 
almost  immediately  after  the  cru- 
elties Goinniitted,  the  Divine  ven- 
geance overtook  him.  He  was  un- 
expectedly degraded  and  deprived 
of  all  his  honours  ;  and  dejected, 
dispirited,  and  meanly  begging  for 
mercy,  was  put  to  death  by  the 
same  hand  that  raised  him. 

Firmilianus,  another  persecuting 
governor,  met  with  the  same  fate. 

Maximianus  Herculius,  another 
of  the  wretched  persecuting  empe- 
rors, was  compelled  to  hang  him- 
self, in  the  year  three  hundred  and 
ten. 

Maximianus  Gelerius,  of  all  the 


JU  D 


448 


JUD 


tyrants  of  his  time  the  most  cruel, 
was  seized  with  a  grievous  and 
horrible  disease,  and  tormented 
with  ulcers  and  worms  to  such  a 
degree,  that  they  who  were  order- 
ed to  attend  him  could  not  bear  the 
stench.  Worms  proceeded  from 
his  body  in  a  fearful  manner  ;  and 
several  of  his  physicians  were  put 
to  death  because  they  could  not  en- 
dure the  smell,  and  others  because 
they  could  not  cure  him.  This 
happened  in  the  year  of  our  Lord 
three  hundred  and  eleven. 

Maxentius,  another  of  the  in- 
human monsters,  was  overthrown 
in  battle  by  Constantine  ;  and  in 
his  flight  he  fell  into  the  Tiber, 
and  was  drowned  in  the  year  three 
hundred  and  twelve. 

Maximinus  put  out  the  eyes  of 
many  thousands  of  Christians. 
Soon  after  the  commission  of  his 
cruelties,  a  disease  arose  among 
his  own  people,  which  greatly  af- 
fected their  eyes,  and  took  away 
their  sight.  He  himself  died  mise- 
rably, and  upon  the  rack,  his  eyes 
start-jng  out  of  his  head  through  the 
violence  of  his  distemper,  in  the 
year  three  hundred  and  thirteen. 
All  his  family  likewise  were  de- 
stroyed, his  wife  and  children  put 
to  death,  together  with  most  of  his 
friends  and  dependants,  who  had 
been  the  instruments  of  his  crueltv. 

A  Roman  officer,  to  oblige  this 
Maximinus,  greatly  oppressed  the 
church  at  Damascus  :  not  long  af' 
ter,  he  destroj'ed  himself. 

Licinius,  the  last  of  these  perse- 
cuting emperors  before  Constan- 
tine, was  conquered  and  put  to 
death  in  the  year  three  '  hundred 
and  twenty-three.  Hft  Av^as  equal- 
ly an  enemy  to  religion,  liberty, 
and  learning. 


Cyril,  the  Deacon,  was  mur- 
dered by  some  Pagans,  at  Helio- 
polis,  for  his  opposition  to  their 
images.  They  ripped  open  his 
belly,  and  ate  his  liver  :  the  Divine 
vengeance,  however,  pursued  all 
those  who  had  been  guilty  of  this 
crime? their  teeth  came  out,  their 
tongues  rotted,  and  they  lost  their 
sight. 

Valens  was  made  emperor  in 
364;  and  though  a  Christian  him- 
self, he  is  said  to  have  caused 
fourscore  Presbyters,  who  differed 
from  him  in  opinion,  to  be  put  to 
sea,  and  burnt  alive  in  the  ship. 
Afterwards,  in  a  battle  with  the 
Goths,  he  was  defeated  and  wound- 
ed, and  fled  to  a  cottage,  v/here  he 
was  burnt  alive,  as  most  histo- 
rians relate  :  all  agree  that  he  pe- 
rished. 

The  last  Pagan  prince,  who  was 
a  formidable  enemy  to  christianitv, 
was  Radagaisus,  a  king  of  the 
Goths.  He  invaded  the  Roman 
empire  with  an  army  of  400,000 
men,  about  the  year  405,  and  vow- 
ed to  sacrifice  all  the  Romans  to 
his  gods.  The  Romans,  however, 
fought  him,  and  obtained  a  com- 
plete victory,  taking  him  and  his 
sons  pi"isoners,  whom  they  put  to 
death. 

Hunneric,  the  Vandal,  though 
a  Christian,  was  a  most  cruel  per- 
secutor of  those  who  differed  from 
him  in  opinion,  about  the  year  of 
our  Lord  484.      He    spared   not 
even  those  of  his  own  persuasion, 
I  neither  his  friends  nor  his  kindred. 
iHe  reigned,   however,  not   quite 
j  eight  years,  and  died  with  all  the 
i  marks  of  Divine  indignation  upon 
jhim. 

Julian  the  apostate  greatly  op- 


JUD 


449 


JU  D 


pressed  the  Christians;  and  he  pe- 
rished soon  after,  in  his  rash  expe- 
dition against  the  Persians. 

Several  of  those  who  were  em- 
ployed or  permitted  b}'^  JuUan  to 
persecute  the  Christians,  are  said 
to  have  perished  miserably  and  re- 
markably. I  will  here  relate  the 
fate  of  a  few  of  these  unhappy 
•wretches  in  the  words  of  Tille- 
mont,  who  faithfully  collected  the 
account  from  the  ancients.  We 
have  observed,  says  this  learned 
man,  that  count  Julian,  with  Felix, 
superintendant  of  the  finances,  and 
Elpidius,  treasurer  to  the  emperor, 
apostates  all  three,  had  received  or- 
ders to  go  and  seize  the  effects  of 
the  church  of  Antioch,  and  cany 
them  to  the  treasury.  They  did 
it  on  the  day  of  the  martyrdom 
of  St.  Theodoret,  and  drew  up  an 
account  of  what  they  had  seized. 
But  count  Julian  was  not  content 
with  taking  away  the  sacred  vessels 
of  the  church,  and  profaning  them 
by  his  impure  hands :  carrying  to 
greater  lengths  the  outrage  he  was 
doing  to  Jesus  Christ,  he  overturn- 
ed and  flung  them  down  on  the 
ground,  and  sat  upon  them  in  a 
most  criminal  manner;  adding  to 
this  all  the  banters  and  blasphemies 
that  he  could  devise  against  Christ, 
antl  against  the  Christians,  who, 
he  said,  were  abandoned  of  God. 

Felix,  the  superintendant,  signa- 
lized himself  also  by  another  im- 
piety ;  for  as  he  was  viewing  the 
rich  and  magnificent  vessels  which 
the  emperors Consiantine  andCon- 
stantius  had  given  to  the  church, 
"  Behold,"  said  he,  "  with  what 
plate  the  son  of  Mary  is  served !"  It 
is  said,  too,  that  count  Julian  and 
he  made  it  the  subject  of  banter, 
Vol:  I.  3  M 


that  God  should  let  them  thus  pro- 
fane his  temple,  without  interpo- 
sing by  visible  miracles. 

Butthese  impieties  remained  not 
long  unpunished,  and  Julian  had  no 
sooner  profaned  the  sacred  utensils, 
than  he  felt  the  effect  of  Divine  ven- 
geance.     He  fell  into  a  grievous 
and  unknov/n  disease  ;  and  his  in- 
ward parts  being  corrupted,  he  cast 
out  his  liver  and  his  excrements, 
not  from  the  ordinary  passages,  but 
from  his  miserable  mouth,  which 
had  uttered  so  many  blasphemies. 
His  secret  parts,  and  all  the  flesh 
round  about  them,  corrupted  also, 
and  bred  worms  ;  and  to  shew  that 
it  was  a  Divine  punishment,  all  the 
art  of  physicians  could  give  him  no 
relief.    In  this  condition  he  conti- 
nued forty  days,  without  speech  or 
sense,  preyed  on  by  worms.     At 
length  he  came  to  himself  again. 
The   imposthumes,    however,  all 
over   his   body,    and  the    worms 
which  gnawed  him  continually,  re- 
duced him  to  the  utmost  extremi- 
ty.    He  threw  them  up,  without 
ceasing,  the  last  three  days  of  his 
life,  with  a  stench  which  he  him- 
self could  not  bear. 

The  disease  with  which  God  vi- 
sited Felix  was  not  so  long.  He 
burst  suddenly  in  the  middle  of  his 
body,  and  died  of  an  effusion  of 
blood  in  the  course  of  one  da}'. 

Elpidius  was  sti-ipped  of  his  ef- 
fects in  366,  and  shut  up  in  prison, 
where,  after  having  continued  for 
some  time,  he  died  without  reputa- 
tion and  honour,  cursed  of  all  the 
world,  and  surnamed  the  apostate. 

To  these  instances  many  more 
might  be  added  nearfer  our  own 
times,  did  our  room  permit.  These, 
however,  as  sufficient  to  shew  u!i 


JUM 


50 


JU  s 


what  a  fearful  thing  it  is  to  fall  into 
the  hands  of  the  living  God,  and 
how  fruitless  and  awful  it  is  to  op- 
pose his  designs,  and  to  attempt  to 
stop  the  progress  of  his  gospel. 
^'  Why  do  the  heathen  rage,  and 
the  people  imagine  a  vain  thing  r 
He  that  sitteth  in  the  heavens  shall 
laugh;  the  Lord  shall  have  them  in 
derision.  Thou  shalt  break  them 
with  a  rod  of  iron ;  thou  shalt  dash 
them  to  pieces  as  a  potter's  vessel. 
Be  wise  no  w,  therefore,  O  ye  kings  ; 
be  instructed,  ye  judges  of  the 
earth.  Serve  the  Lord  with  fear, 
and  rejoice  with  trembling,"  Psa. 
ii.  y orthi^s Remarks  on  Ecclesiasti- 
cal History^  vol.  iii,  p.  246,  &c. ; 
Simpson^s  Key  to  the  Prophecies^ 
§  29 ;  Newton  on  the  Prophecies^ 
dis.  24;  Bryant's  Observations  on 
the  Plagues  of  Egypt ;  Tillemo7it 
Histoire  des  Emp. 

JUDICIUM  DEI,  or  Judgment 
of  God,  was  a  term  anciently  ap- 
plied to  all  extraordinary  trials  of 
secret  crimes  ;  as  those  by  arms 
and  single  combat ;  and  the  or- 
deals, or  those  by  ftre,  or  red  hot 
plough-shares,  by  plunging  the 
arm  in  boiling  water,  or  the  whole 
body  in  cold  water,  in  hopes  God 
would  work  a  miracle,  rather  than 
suffer  truth  and  innocence  to  pe- 
rish. These  customs  were  a  long 
time  kept  up  even  among  Chris- 
tians, and  they  are  still  in  use  in 
some  nations.  Trials  of  this  sort 
were  usually  held  in  churches,  in 
the  presence  of  the  bishop,  priest, 
and  secular  judges,  after  three  days 
fasting,confession,communion,and 
many  adjurations  and  ceremonies, 
described  at  large  by  l)u  Cange. 

JUMPERS,  persons  so  called 
from  the  practice  of  jumping  du- 
ring the  time  allotted  for  religious 


worship.  This  singular  practice 
began,  it  is  said,  in  the  western  part 
of  Wales,  about  the  year  1 760.  It 
Avas  soon  after  defended  by  Mr. 
William  Williams  (the  Welch  po- 
et, as  he  is  sometime  called)  in  a 
pamphlet,  which  was  patronized  by 
the  abettors  of  jumping  in  religious 
assemblies.  Several  of  the  more 
zealous  itinerant  preachers  encou- 
raged the  people  to  ciy  out  go- 
goniant  (the  Welch  word  for  glo- 
ry), amen,  &c.  &c. ;  to  put  them- 
selves in  violent  agitations  ;  and, 
finally,  to  jump  until  they  were 
quite  exhausted,  so  as  often  to  be 
obliged  to  fall  down  on  the  floor 
or  the  field  where  th!s  kind  of  wor- 
ship was  held.  These  scenes  con- 
tinue sometimes  for  two  or  three 
hours,  and  sometimes  during  half 
the  night,  after  having  produced 
the  greatest  confusion,  and  too  of- 
ten turned  the  solemnities  of  reli- 
gion into  the  most  extravagant 
clamours  and  gestures. 

Though  the  Jumpers  have  not, 
it  is  said,  passed  the  boundaries  of 
V/ales,  we  find  there  have  been 
others  notless  frantic  in  other  parts. 
See  articles  Dancers  and  Shak- 
ers. We  are  happy  to  find,  how- 
ever, that  the  practice  of  jumping 
is  on  the  decline  ;  and  we  hope 
that  these  people  and  their  leaders, 
whom  we  believe  are  many  of  them 
not  only  sincere,  but  pious  too, 
Vvall  consider  that  such  disorderly 
scenes  are  not  compatible  with  the 
service  of  that  God,  who  is  a  God 
of  order ;  not  the  author  of  con- 
fusion, but  of  peace. 

JUSTICE  consists  in  an  exact 
and  scrupulous  regard  to  the  rights 
of  others,  with  a  deliberate  purpose 
to  preserve'  them  on  all  occasions 
sacred  and  inviolate.      It  is  often 


JUS 


451 


JUS 


divided  into  commutative  and  dis- 
tributative  justice.  The  former 
consists  in  an  equal  exchange  of  be- 
nefits ;  the  latter  in  an  equal  dis- 
tribution of  rewards  and  punish- 
ments. Dr.  Watts  gives  the  fol- 
lowing rules  respecting  justice. — 
'••  1.  It  is  just  that  we  honour,  re- 
verence, and  respect  those  who  are 
superiors  in  any  kind,  Eph.  vi,  1, 
3.  1st  Pet  ii,  17.  1st  Tim.  v,  17. 
— 2.  That  we  shew  particular 
kindness  to  near  relations,  Prov. 
xvii,  1 7. — 3.  That  we  love  those 
who  love  us,  and  shew  gratitude 
to  those  who  have  done  us  good, 
Gal.  iv,  15. — 4.  That  we  pay  the 
full  due  to  those  whom  we  bargain 
or  deal  with,  Rom.  xiii.  Deut. 
xxiv,  14. — 5.  That  we  help  our 
fellow-creatures  in  cases  of  great  | 
necessity,  Ex.  xxiii,  4. — 6.  Repa- 1 
ration  to  those  whom  we  have  i 
wilfully  injured."  Watts^s  Serm,^  \ 
ser.  24,  25,  vol.  ii  ;  Berry  Street 
Lect.^  ser.  4  ;  Grove's  Mor.  Phil,^ 
p.  332,  vol.  ii ;  IVoUastoJi's  Relig. 
of  Nature^  p.  137, 141  ;  Joy's  Ser.^ 
vol.  ii,  p.  131. 

JUSTICE  OF  GOD  is  that  per- 
fection v/hereby  he  is  infinitely 
righteous  and  just,  both  in  him- 
self and  in  all  his  proceedings  with 
his  creatures.  Mr.  Ryland  defines 
it  thus  :  "  The  ardent  inclination 
of  his  will  to  prescribe  equal  lav/s 
as  the  supreme  governor,  and  to 
dispense  equal  rewards  and  punish- 
ments as  the  supreme  judge," 
Rev.  xvi,  5.  Psal.  cxlv,  7.  Psal. 
xcvii,  1. — 2.  It  is  distinguished 
into  remunerative  and  punitive 
justice.  R.emurierative  justice  is  a 
distribution  of  rewards,  the  rule,  of 
which  is  not  the  merit  of  the  crea- 
ture, but  his  own  gracious  pro- 
mise, Jas.  i,  12.  2d  Tim.  iv,  8. 


Punitive^  or  vindictive  justice,  is 
the  infliction  of  punishment  for  any 
sin  committed  by  men,  2d  Thess. 
i,  6.  That  God  will  not  let  sin  go 
unpunished  is  evident,  1.  From 
the  word  of  God,  Ex.  xxxiv,  6,  7. 
Numb,  xiv,  18.  Neh.  i,  3. — "2. 
From  the  nature-  of  God,  Isa. 
i,  13,  14.  Psal.  V,  5,  6.  Heb.  xii, 
29. — -3.  Fi'om  sin  being  punished 
in  Christ,  the  surety  of  his  people, 
1st  Pet.  iii,  18. — 4.  From  all  the 
various  natural  evils  which  men 
bear  in  the  present  state.  The  use 
we  should  make  of  this  doctrine  is 
this:  1.  We  should  learn  the 
dreadful  nature  of  sin,  and  the  in- 
evitable ruin  of  impenitent  sinners, 
Psalm  ix,  17 — 2.  We  should 
highly  appreciate  the  Lord  Jesus 
Christ  in  vvhom  justice  is  satisfied, 
1st  Pet.  iii,  18. — 3.  We  should 
imitate  the  justice  of  God,  by 
cherishing  an  ardent  regard  to  the 
rights  of  God,  and  to  the  rights 
of  mankind. — 4.  We  should  ab- 
hor all  sin,  as  it  strikes  directly 
at  the  justice  of  God. — 5.  We 
should  derive  comfort  from  the 
consideration  that  the  judge  of  all 
the  earth  will  do  right  as  it  re- 
spects ourselves,  the  church,  and 
the  world  at  large,  Psal.  xcvii,  I , 
2.  Rif land's  Co72ts.y  vol.  ii,  p. 
439;  JVitsius''s  Economy,  Vih.  11^ 
ch.  8,  §  11  ;  Dr.  Owen  on  the 
Justice  of  God  J  GilPs  Body  of  Di- 
vinity^ p.  155,  vol.  i,  8vo. ;  Elisha 
Cole  on  the  Righteousness  of  God. 
JUSTIFICATION,  a  forensic 
term,  and  signifies  the  declaring  or 
the  pronouncing  a  person  righteous 
according  to  law.  It  stands  op- 
posed to  condemnation  ;  and  this 
is  the  idea  of  the  word  whenever 
it  is  used  in  an  evangelical  sense, 
Rom.  V,  18.  Deut.  xxv,  1.  Prov. 


JUS 


452 


JUS 


xvii,  15.  Matt,  xii,  37.  It  does 
not  signify  to  make  men  holy,  but 
the  holding  and  declaring  them 
so.  It  is  defined  by  the  assembly 
thus :"  An  act  of  God's  free 
grace,  in  which  he  pardoneth  all 
our  sins,  and  accepteth  us  as 
righteous  in  his  sight  only,  for  the 
righteousness  of  Christ  imputed  to 
us,  and  received  by  faith  alone-" 

The  doctrine  of  justification, 
says  Mr.  Booth,  makes  a  very 
distinguished  figure  in  that  reli- 
gi'on  which  is  from  above,  and  is 
a  capital  article  of  that  faith 
which  was  once  delivered  to  the 
saints.  Far  from  being  a  merely 
speculative  point,  it  spreads  its 
influence  through  the  whole  bo- 
dy of  divinity,  runs  through  all 
Christian  experience  and  operates 
in  every  part  of  practical  godli- 
ness. Such  is  its  grand  import- 
ance, that  a  mistake  about  it  has 
a  malignant  efficacy,  and  is  at- 
tended with  a  long  train  of  dan- 
gerous consequences.  Nor  can 
this  appear  strange  when  it  is  con- 
sidered that  the  doctrine  of  j  usti- 
fication  is  no  other  than  the  ivay 
of  a  smrter''s  acceptance  with  God. 
Being  of  such  peculiar  moment, 
it  is  inseparably  connected  with 
many  other  evangelical  truths,  the 
harmony  and  beauty  of  Avhich  we 
cannot  behold  while  this  is  misun- 
dtirstood.  It  is,  if  any  thing  may 
1)6  so  called,  an  essential  article, 
and  certainly  requires  our  most 
serious  consideration. 

Justification,  in  a  theological 
sense,  is  either  legal  ox  evangelical. 
If  any  person  could  be  found  that 
had  never  broken  the  Divine  lav/, 
he  might  be  justified  by  it  in  a 
manner  strictly  legal.  But  in  this 
way  none  of  the  human  race  can 


be  justified,  or  stand  acquitted  be- 
fore God.  For  all  have  sinned  ; 
there  is  none  righteous  ;  no,  not 
one,  Rom.  iii.  As  sinners,  they 
are  under  the  sentence  of  death  by 
his  righteous  law,  and  excluded 
from  all  hope  and  mercy.  That 
justification,  therefore,  about 
which  the  scriptures  principally 
treat,  and  which  reaches  the  case 
of  a  sinner,  is  not  by  a  personal, 
but  an  imputed  righteousness;  a 
righteousness  without  the  law, 
Rom.  iii,  21,  provided  by  grace, 
and  revealed  in  the  gospel ;  for 
which  reason,  that  obedience 
by  which  a  sinner  is  justified,  and 
his  justification  itself,  are  called 
evangelical.  In  this  affair  there 
is  the  most  wonderful  display  of 
Divine  justice  and  boundless  grace. 
Of  Di'Oine  justice^  if  we  regard  the 
meritorious  cause  and  ground  on 
which  the  Justifier  proceeds  inab- 
j  solving  the  condemned  sinner,  and 
in  pronouncing  him  righteous. 
Of  boundless  grace^  if  we  consider 
the  state  and  character  of  those ' 
persons  to  whom  the  blessing  is 
granted.  Justification  may  be 
farther  distinguished  as  being 
either  at  the  bar  of  God,  and  in 
the  court  of  conscience;  or  in 
the  sight  of  the  world,  and  before 
our  feliovv-creatures.  The  for- 
mer is  by  mere  grace  through 
faith  ;  and  the  latter  is  by  works. 
To  justify  is  evidently  a  Divine 
prerogative.  It  is  God  that  justi' 
Jieth^  Rom.  viii,  33.  That  sove- 
reign Being,  against-  whom  we 
have  so  greatly  offended,  whose 
law  we  have  broken  by  ten  thou- 
sand acts  of  rebellion  against  him, 
has,  in  the  way  of  his  own  ap- 
pointment, the  sole  right  of  ac- 
quitting the  guilty,  and  of  pro- 


JUS 


453 


JUS 


nouncing  them  righteous.  He  ap- 
points the  way,  provides  the  means, 
and  imputes  the  righteousness ; 
and  all  in  perfect  agreement  with 
the  demands  of  his  violated  law, 
and  the  rights  of  his  offended  jus-  j 
tice.  But  although  this  act  is  in  | 
some  places  of  the  infallible  word 
inore  particularly  appropriated  per- 
sonally to  the  Father,  yet  it  is  ma- 
nifest that  all  the  Three  Persons 
are  concei-ned  in  this  grand  affair, 
and  each  performs  a  distinct  part 
in  this  particular,  as  also  in  the 
whole  ceconomy  of  salvation.  The 
eternal  Father  is  represented  as 
appointing  the  way,  and  as  giving 
his  own  Son  to  perform  the  con- 
ditions of  our  acceptance  before 
him,  Rom.  viii,  32,  The  divine 
Son  as  engaged  to  sustain  the 
curse,  and  make  the  atonement ; 
to  fulfil  the  terms,  and  provide 
the  righteousness  by  which  we  are 
justified.  Tit.  ii,  14.  And  the 
Holy  Spirit  as  revealing  to  sinners 
the  perfection,  suitableness,  and 
freeness  of  the  Saviour's  work, 
enabling  them  to  receive  it  as  ex- 
hibited in  the  gospel  of  sovereign 
grace  ;  and  testifying  to  their  con- 
sciences complete  justification  by 
it  in  the  court  of  heaven,  John 
xvi,  8,  14. 

As  to  the  objects  of  justification, 
the  scripture  says,  the)-  are  sinners^ 
and  ungodly.  For  thus  runs  the 
Divine  declaration  :  To  him  that 
Tvorketh  is  the  rexvard  of  justifica- 
tion, and  of  eternal  life  as  con- 
nected with  it ;  not  reckoned  of 
grace,  but  of  debt.  But  to  him 
that  worketh  not,  but  believcth  on 
Him  that  justijieth^r-v/hom  ?  the 
righteous  ?  the  holy  ?  the  emi- 
nently pious?  Nay,  verily,  but 
the  zmg-od/i/ ;  his  faith,  or  th.it  in 


which  he  believes,  is  counted unt9 
him  for  righteousness,  Rom.  iv,  4, 
5.   Gal.   ii,  17.     Here,  then,  we 
learn,  that  the  subjects  of  justifi- 
cation, considered  in  themselves, 
are  not  only  destitute  of  a  perfect 
righteousness,  but  have  performed 
no  good  works  at  all.     They  are 
denominated  and  considered  as  the 
ungodly,  when  the  blessing  is  be- 
stowed upon  them.     Not  that  we 
are  to  vmderstand  that  such  remain 
ungodly.    "  All,"  saj^s  Dr.  Owen, 
"  that  are  justified,  were  before 
ungodly ;  but  all  that  are  justified, 
are,    at  the   same    instant,    made 
godl)^."     That  the   mere   sinner, 
however,  is  the  subject  of  justifi- 
cation, appears  from  hence.     The 
Spirit   of  God,   speaking   in   the 
scripture,  repeatedly  declares  that 
we  are  justified  by   grace.     But 
grace  stands  in  direct  opposition  to 
works.     Whoever,    therefore,   is 
justified  by  grace,  is  considered  as 
absolutely  unworthy  in  that  verr 
instant  when  the  blessing  is  vouch- 
safed to  him,  Rom.  iii,  24.     The 
person,  therefore,  that  is  justified, 
is   accepted  without  any  cause  in 
himself.     Hence  it  appears,  that, 
if  we  regard  the  persons  who  are 
justified,  and  their  state  prior  to 
the  enjoyment  of  the  immensely 
glorious  privilege.    Divine   grace 
appears,  and  reigns  in  all  its  glory. 
As  to  the  xvay  and  manner  in 
which  sinners  are  justified,  it  may 
be  observed  that  the   Divine  Be- 
ing  can    acquit    none    without   a 
complt^te  righteousness.     Justifi- 
cation, as  before  observed,  is  evi- 
dently a  forensic   term,  and  the 
thing  intended  by  it  a  judicial  act. 
So  that,  were  a  person  to  be  justi- 
fied without  a  righteousness,  the 
judgment  would  not  be  according 


J  us 


454 


JUS 


to  truth  :  it  would  be  a  false  and 
unrighteous  sentence.  That  right- 
eousness by  which  we  are  justified 
must  be  equal  to  the  demands  of 
that  law  according  to  which  the 
Sovereign  Judge  proceeds  in  our 
justification.  Many  persons  talk 
of  conditions  of  justification  (see 
article  Condition)  ;  but  the  only 
condition  is  that  of  perfect  righte- 
ousness: this  the  law  requires,  nor 
does  the  gospel  substitute  another. 
But  where  shall  we  find  or  how 
shall  we  obtain  a  justifying  righte- 
ousness ?  Shall  we  fiee  to  the  law 
for  relief?  Shall  we  apply  with  di- 
ligence and  zeal  to  the  perform- 
ance of  dut)^,  in  order  to  attain 
the  desired  end  ?  The  apostle  po- 
sitively affirms,  that  there  is  no  ac- 
ceptance with  God  by  the  -works  of 
the  laxv ;  and  the  reasons  are  evi- 
dent. Our  righteousness  is  im- 
perfect, and  consequently  cannot 
justify.  If  justification  were  by 
the  works  of  men,  it  could  not 
■be  by  grace :  it  would  not  be 
a  righteousness  without  works. — 
There  would  be  no  need  of  the 
righteousness  of  Christ ;  and,  last- 
ly, if  justification  v/ere  by  the 
•law,  then  boasting  would  be  en- 
couraged ;  whereas  God^s  design, 
in  the  whole  scheme  of  salvation, 
is  to  exclude  it,  Rom.  iii,  27.  Eph. 
.ii,  8,  9.  Nor  is  faith  itself  our 
righteousness,  or  that  for  the  sake 
of  which  we  are  justified  :  for, 
though  believers"  are  said  to  be 
justified  by  faith,  yet  not  for  faith : 
faith  can  only  be  considered  as 
the  instrument,  and  not  the  cause. 
That  faith  is  not  our  righteous- 
ness, is  evident  from  the  following 
considerations :  No  maiVs  faith 
is  perfect;  and,  if  it  were,  it 
would   not  be   equal   to  the  de- 


mands of  the  Divine  law.  It 
could  not,  therefore,  without  an 
error  in  judgment,  be  accounted 
a  complete  righteousness.  But 
the  judgment  of  God,  as  before 
proved,  is  according  to  truth,  and 
according  to  the  rights  of  his  law. 
That  obedience  by  which  a  sinner 
is  justified  is  called  the-  righteous- 
ness offaith^  righteousness  byfaith^ 
and  is  represented  as  revealed  to 
faith  ;  consequently  it  cannot  be 
faith  itself.  Faith,  in  the  business 
of  justification,  stands  opposed  to 
all  works ;  to  him  that  ivorketh  not^ 
but  believeth.  Now,  if  it  were  our 
justifying  righteousness,  to  consi- 
der it  in  such  alight  would  be  high- 
ly improper.  For  in  such  a  con- 
nexion it  falls  under  the  conside- 
ration of  a  zvork  ;  a  condition,  on 
the  performance  of  which  our  ac- 
ceptance with  God  is  manifestly 
suspended.  If  faith  itself  be  that 
on  account  of  which  we  are  ac- 
cepted, then  some  believers  are 
justified  by  a  more,  and  some  by 
a  less  perfect  righteousness,  in  ex- 
act proportion  to  the  strength  or 
weakness  of  their  faith.  That 
which  is  the  end  of  the  law  is  our 
righteousness,  which  certainly  is 
not  faith,  but  the  obedience  of 
our  exalted  substitute,  Rom.  x, 
4.  Were  faith  itself  our  justify- 
ing righteousness,  we  might  de- 
pend upon  it  before  God,  and  re- 
joice in  it.  So  that,  according  to 
this  hypothesis,  not  Christ,  but 
faith,  is  the  capital  thing ;  the  ob- 
ject to  v/hich  we  must  look,  which 
is  absurd.  When  the  apostle  says, 
"  faith  was  imputed  to  him  for 
righteousness,"  his  main  design 
was  to  prove  that  the  etenial  Sove- 
reign justifies  freely^  v/ithout  any 
cause  in  the  creature. 


JUS 


45i 


JU  s 


Nor  is  man's  obedience  to  the 
gospel  as  to  a  new  and  milder  law 
the  matter  of  his  justification  be- 
fore God.  It  was  a  notion  that 
some  years  ago  obtained,  that  a 
relaxation  of  the  law,  and  the  se- 
verities of  it,  has  been  obtained  by 
Christ ;  and  a  new  law,  a  remedial 
law,  a  law  of  milder  terms,  has 
been  introduced  by  him,  which  is 
the  gospel ;  the  terms  of  which 
are  faith,  repentance,  and  obe- 
cience  ;  and  though  these  are  im- 
perfect, yet,  being  sincere,  they 
are  accepted  of  by  God  in  the 
room  of  a  perfect  righteousness. 
But  every  part  of  this  scheme  is 
wrong,  for  the  law  is  not  relaxed, 
nor  any  of  its  severities  abated  ; 
there  is  no  alteration  made  in  it 
either  with  respect  to  its  precepts 
or  penalty  :  besides,  the  scheme  is 
absurd,  for  it  supposes  that  the 
law  which  a  man  is  now  under 
requires  only  an  hnperfect  obe- 
dience :  but  an  imperfect  righte- 
ousness cannot  answer  its  de- 
mands ;  for  every  law  requires 
perfect  obedience  to  its  own  pre- 
cepts and  prohibitions. 

Nor  is  a  profession  of  religion, 
or  sincerity,  or  good  works,  at  all 
the  ground  of  our  acceptance  with 
God,  for  all  our  righteousness  is 
imperfect,  and  must  therefore  be 
entirely  excluded.  By  grace^  saith 
the  apostle,  ye  are  saved^  not  of 
xvorkSy  lest  any  vian  should  boast^ 
Eph.  ii,  8,  9.  Besides,  the  works  of 
sanctification  and  justification  are 
two  distinct  things :  the  one  is  a 
work  of  grace  within  men ;  the 
other  an  act  of  grace  for  or  towards 
men  :  the  one  is  imperfect,  the 
other  complete  ;  the  one  carried 
on  gradually,  the  other  done  at 
once.     See  Sangtificatiox. 


If,  then,  we  cannot  possibly  be 
justified  by  any  of  our  own  per- 
formances, nor  by  faith  itself,  nor 
even  by  the  graces  of  the  Holy 
Spirit,  where  then  shall  we  find 
a  righteousness  by  which  we  can 
be  justified  ?  The  scripture  fur- 
nishes us  with  an  answ-cr — "  By 
Jesus  Christ  all  that  believe  are 
justified  ixo-m.  all  things  from  which 
they  could  not  be  justified  by  the 
law  of  Moses,"  Acts  xiii,  38,  39. 
"He  was  delivered  for  our  of- 
fences, and  raised  again  for  our 
justification^''  Rom.  iv,  25.  "  Being 
justified  by  his  blood,  we  shall  be 
saved  from  wrath  tlirougli  him," 
Rom.  V,  9.  The  spotless  obedience, 
therefore,  the  bitter  sufferings, 
and  the  accursed  death  of  our  hea- 
venly Surety,  constitute  that  very 
righteousness  by  which  sinners  are 
justified  before  God.  That  this 
righteousness  is  imputed  to  us,  and 
that  we  are  not  justified  by  a  per- 
sonal righteousness,  appears  from 
the  scripture  with  superior  evi- 
dence. "  By  the  obedience  of  one 
shall  many  be  made  righteous," 
Rom.  V,  19.  "  He  hath  made  him 
to  be  sin  for  us,  who  knew  no  sin, 
that  we  might  be  made  the  righte- 
ousness of  God  in  him,"  2cl  Cor. 
V,  21.  "And  be  found  in  him, 
not  having  mine  own  righteousness 
which  is  of  the  law,  but  that  which 
is  through  the  faith  of  Christ:  the 
righteousness  which  is  of  God  by 
faith,"  Phil,  iii,  8.  See  also 
Jer.  xxiii,  6.  Dan.  ix,  24.  the 
whole  of  the  ivth  th.  Romans, 
and  the  ii  ch.  of  Galatians.  Sec- 
articles  Reco.nxiliation,  Right- 
eousness. 

As  to  the  properties  of  justifi- 
cation :  1 .  It  is  an  act  of  God's 
free    grace,    without   any    merit 


JUS 


456 


JUS 


wliatever  in  the  creature,  Rom.  iii, 
24. — 2.  It  is  an  act  of  justice  as 
well  as  grace  :  the  law  being  per- 
fectly fulfilled  in  Christ,  and  Di- 
vine justice  satisfied,  Rom.  iii,  25. 
Ps.  Ixxxv,  10 — 3.  It  is  an  indivi- 
dual and  instantaneous  act  done  at 
once,  admitting  of  no  degrees, 
John  xix,  30. — 4.  It  is  irrever- 
sible, and  an  unalterable  act,  Mai. 
iii,  6. 

As  to  the  time  of  justification, 
divines  are  not  agreed.  Some  have 
distinguisheditinto  decretive,  vir- 
tual, and  actual.  1.  Decretive,  is 
God's  eternal  purpose  to  justify 
sinners  in  time  by  Jesus  Christ. — 
2.  Virtual  justification  has  a  refer- 
ence to  the  satisfaction  made  by 
Christ. — 3.  Actual,  is  when  we  are 
enabled  to  believe  in  Christ,  and  by 
faith  are  united  to  him.  Others  say 
it  is  eternal,  because  his  purpose 
respecting  it  was  from  everlasting ; 
and  that,  as  the  Almighty  viewed 
his  people  in  Christ,  they  were,  of 
consequence,  justified  in  his  sight. 
But  it  appears  to  me,  that  the 
principle  on  which  the  advocates 
for  this  doctrine  have  proceeded  is 
wrong.  They  have  confounded 
the  design  with  the  execution ; 
for  if  this  distinction  be  not  kept 
up,  thei  utmost  perplexity  will  fol- 
low the  consideration  of  every  sub- 
ject which  relates  to  the  decrees 
of  God  ;  nor  shall  we  be  able  to 
form  any  clear  ideas  of  his  moral 
government  whatevei*.  To  say,  as 
one  does,  that  the  eternal  will  of 
God  to  justify  men  is  the  justifi- 
cation of  them,  is  not  to  the  pur- 
pose ;  for,  upon  the  same  ground, 
we  might  as  •.veil  say -that  the 
eternal  will  of  God  to  convert  and 
glorify  his  people  is  the  real  con- 


version and  glorification  of  theni« 
That  it  v/as  eternally  determined 
that  there  should  be  a  people  who 
should  believe  in  Christ,  and  that 
his  rigiiteousness  should  be  im- 
puted to  them,  is  not  to  be  dis- 
puted ;  but  to  say  that  these 
things  were  really  done  from  eter- 
nity (which  we  must  say  if  we  be- 
lieve eternal  justification),  this 
would  be  absurd.  It  is  more  con- 
sistent to  believe,  that  God  from 
eternity  laid  the  plan  of  justifica- 
tion ;  that  this  plan  was  executed 
bythe  life  and  death  of  Christ;  and 
that  the  blessing  is  only  manifested, 
received,  and  enjoyed,  when  we 
are  regenerated  ;  so  that  no  man 
can  say,  or  has  any  reason  to  con- 
clude, he  is  justified  until  he  be- 
lieves in  Christ,  Rom.  v,  1. 

The  effects  or  blessings  of  justi- 
fication are,  1.  An  entire  freedom 
from  all  penal  evils  in  this  life, 
and  that  which  is  to  come,  1st 
Cor.  iii,  22 — 2.  Peace  with  God, 

Rom.  v,  1. 3.  Access  to  God 

through  Christ,  Eph.  iii,  12. — 4. 
Acceptance  with  God,  Eph.  v,  27. 
— 5.  Holy  confidence  and  securi- 
ty under  all  the  difficulties  and 
troubles  of  the  present  state,  2d 
Tim.  i,  12. — -6.  Finally,  eternal 
salv  ation,Rom.  viii,  30.Rom.  v,  1 8. 

Thus  we  have  given  as  com- 
prehensive a  view  of  the  doctrine 
of  justification  as  the  nature  of 
this  work  will  admit ;  a  doctrine 
which  is  founded  upon  the  sacred 
scriptures  ;  and  which  so  far  from 
leading  to  licentiousness,  as  some 
suppose,  is  of  all  others  the  most 
replete  with  motives  to  love,  de- 
pendance,  and  obedience,  Rom. 
vi,  1,2.  A  doctrine  which  the 
primitive  Christians  held  as  con- 


KEY 


4 


J  i 


K  I  R 


stituting  the  very  essence  of  their 
system  ;  which  our  reformers  con- 
sidered as  the  most  important 
point ;  which  our  venerable  mar- 
tyrs gloried  in,  and  sealed  with 
their  blood ;  and  which,  as  the 
church  of  England  observes,  is  a 
**  very  wholesome  doctrine,  and 
full  of  comfort."  See  Dr.  Ozuen  on 
yustification  ;  Raiulim  on  Justifica- 


tion ;  Edwards's  Sermons  on  ditto; 
Lime  Street  Lect.y  p.  350  j  Hervefs 
Theron  and  Aspasio^  and  Eleven 
Letters;  Witherspoon's  Connexion  be- 
tween  justification  and  Holiness  ; 
Gill  and  Ridgleys  Div.  ;  but  espe- 
cially BootFs  Reign  of  Grace,  to 
which  I  am  indebted  for  great  part 
of  the  above  article. 


K. 


KEITHI ANS,  a  party  which  se- 
parated from  the  (Quakers  in  Penn- 
sylvania in  the  year  1691.  They 
were  headed  by  the  famous  George 
Keith,  from  whom  they  derived 
their  name.  Those  who  persisted 
in  their  separation,  after  their 
leader  deserted  them,  practised 
baptism,  and  received  the  Lord's 
supper.  This  party  were  also 
called  Quaker  Baptists,  because 
they  retained  the  language,  dress, 
and  manner  of  the  Quakers. 

K.EYS,  poiuer  of  the,  a  term  made 
use  of  in  reference  to  ecclesiastical 
jurisdiction,  denoting  the  power 
of  excommunicating  and  absolv- 
ing. The  Romanists  say  that  the 
pope  has  the  power  of  the  keys, 
and  can  open  and  shut  paradise  as 
he  pleases;  grounding  their  opi- 
nion on  that  expression  of  Jesus 
Christ  to  Peter — "  I  will  give  thee 
the  keys  of  the  kingdom  of  hea- 
ven," Matt,  xvi,  19.  But  every 
one  must  see  that  this  is  an  abso- 
lute perversion  of  scripture ;  for 
the  keys  of  the  kingdom  of  hea- 
ven most  probably  refer  to  the 
gospel  dispensation,  and  denotes 
the  power  and  authority  of  every 
faithful  minister  to  preach  the 
gospel,  administer  the  sacraments, 
Vol.  I.  5  N 


and  exercise  government,  that 
men  may  be  admitted  to  or  ex- 
cluded from  the  church,  as  is  pro- 
per.    See  Absolution. 

In  St.  Gregory  we  read,  that  It 
was  the  custom  for  the  popes  to 
send  a  golden  key  to  princes, 
wherein  they  inclosed  a  little  of 
the  filings  of  St.  Peter's  chain, 
kept  with  such  devotion  at  Rome  ; 
and  that  these  keys  were  worn  in 
the  bosom,  as  being  supposed  to 
contain  some  wonderful  virtues  ! 
Such  has  been  the  superstition  of 
past  ages  !  ! 

KIRK  SESSIONS,  the  name  of 
a  petty  ecclesiastical  judicatory  in 
Scotland.  Each  parish,  according 
to  Its  extent,  Is  divided  into  seve- 
ral particular  districts,  every  one 
of  which  has  Its  own  elder  and 
deacon  to  oversee  it.  A  consist- 
ory of  the  ministers,  elders,  and 
deacons  of  a  parish  form  a  kirk 
scpslon.  These  meet  once  a  week, 
the  minister  being  their  moderator, 
but  without  a  negative  voice.  It 
regulates  matters  relative  to  public 
worship,  elections,  catechising,  vi- 
sitations, Sec.  It  judges  in  matters 
of  less  scandal ;  but  greater,  as 
adultery,  are  left  to  the  presby- 
tery,   and    In  all  cases  an  appeal 


KNO 


458 


KNO 


lies  from  it  to  the  presbytery. — 
Kirk  sessions  have  Hkewise  the 
care  of  the  poor,  and  poor's  funds. 
See  Presbyterians. 

KINDNESS,  civil  behaviour,  fa- 
vourable  treatment,  or  a  constant 
and  habitual  practice  of  friendly 
offices  and  benevolent  actions.  See 
Charity,  Gentleness. 

KNIPPERDOLINGS,  a  deno- 
mination in  the  16th  century  ;  'so 
calledfromBertrandKnipperdoling, 
who  taught  that  the  righteous  be- 
fore the  day  of  judgment  shall  have 
a  monarchy  on  earth,  and  the  wick- 
ed be  destroyed  j  that  men  are  not 
justified  by  their  faith  in  Christ  Je- 
sus ;  that  there  is  no  original 
sin  J  that  infants  ought  not  to  be 
baptized,  and  that  immersion  is 
the  only  mode  of  baptism  ;  that 
every  one  has  authority  to  preach 
and  administer  the  sacraments ; 
that  men  are  not  obliged  to  pay 
respect  to  magistrates  -,  that  all 
things  ought  to  be  in  common,  and 
that  it  is  lawful  to  marry  many 
wives. 

KNOWLEDGE  is  defined  by 
Mr.  Locke  to  be  the  perception  of 
the  connexion  and  agreement,  or  dis- 
agreement and  repugnancy  of  our  i 
ideas.  It  also  denotes  learnings  I 
or  the  improvement  of  our  facul- 
ties by  reading ;  experience^  or  the 
acquiring  new  ideas  or  truths,  by 
seeing  a  variety  of  objects,  and 
making  observations  upon  them  in 
our  own  minds.  No  man,  says 
the  admirable  Dr.  Watts,  is  oblig- 
ed to  learn  and  know  every  thing  •, 
this  can  neither  be  sought  nor  re- 
quired, for  it  is  utterly  impossible : 
yet  ail  persons  are  under  some 
obligation  to  improve  their  own 
undeistanding,  otherwise  it  will  be 


a  barren  desert,  or  a  forest  over- 
grown with  weeds  and  brambles. 
Universal  ignorance,  or  infinite 
error,  will  overspread  the  mind 
which  is  utterly  neglected  and 
lies  without  any  cultivation.  The 
following  rules,  therefore,  should 
be  attended  to,  for  the  improve- 
ment of  knowledge.  1.  Deeply 
possess  youg-  mind  with  the  vast  im- 
portance of  a  good  judgment,  and 
the  rich  and  inestimable  advantage 
of  right  reasoning. — 2.  Consider 
the  weaknesses,  failings,  and  mis- 
takes of  human  nature  in  general. 
— 3.  Be  not  satisfied  with  a  slight 
view  of  things,  but  take  a  wide 
survey  now  and  then  of  the  vast 
and  unlimited  regions  of  learning, 
the  variety  of  questions  and  diffi- 
culties belonging  to  every  science. 
— 4.  Presume  not  too  much  upon 
a  bright  genius,  a  ready  wit,  and 
good  parts ;  for  this,  without 
study,  will  never  make  a  man  of 
knowledge, — 5.  Do  not  imagine 
that  large  and  laborious  reading, 
and  a  strong  memory,  can  deno- 
minate you  truly  wise,  without 
meditation  and  studious  thought. 
— 6.  Be  not  so  weak  as  to  imagine 
that  a  life  of  learning  is  a  life  of 
laziness. — 7.  Let  the  hope  of  new 
discoveries,  as  well  as  the  satis- 
faction and  pleasure  of  known 
truths,  animate  your  daily  indus- 
try.— 8.  Do  not  hover  always  on 
the  surface  of  things,  tior  take  up 
suddenly  with  mere  appearances. 
— 9.  Once  a  day,  especially  in  the 
early  years  of  life  and  study,  call 
yourselves  to  an  account  what  new 
ideas  vou  have  gained.-r-lO.  Main- 
tain a  constant  watch,  at  all  times> 
against  a  dogmatical  spirit. — 11. 
Be  humble  and  courageous  enough 


NO 


459 


KNO 


to  retract  any  mistake,  and  con- 
fess an  error. — 12.  Beware  of 
a  fanciful  temper  of  mind,  and 
a  humorous  conduct. — 13.  Have 
a  care  of  trifling  with  things 
important  and  momentous,  or 
of  sporting  with  things  awful 
and  sacred. — 14.  Ever  maintain  a 
virtuous  and  pious  frame  of  spi- 
rit.— 15.  Watch  againet  the  pride 
of  your  own  reason,  and  a  vain 
conceit  of  your  own  intellectual 
powers,  with  the  neglect  of  Divine 
aid  and  blessing. — 16.  Offer  up, 
therefore,  your  daily  requests  to 
God,  the  Father  of  Lights,  chat  he 
would  bless  all  your  attempts  and 
labours  in  reading,  study,  and 
conversation.  Watts  on  the  Mind^ 
chap,  i;  Dr.  John  Edxuards^s  Un- 
certointy^  Deficiency^  and  Corrup- 
tions of  Human  Knoxuledge ;  RticPs 
Intellectual  Powers  of  Man  ;  Sten- 
7iett''s  Sermon  on  Acts  xxvi,  24,  25. 
KNOWLEDGE  OF  GOD  is 
often  taken  for  the  fear  of  God  and 
the  whole  of  religion.  There  is, 
indeed,  a  apeculatl'vc  knowledge, 
which  consists  only  in  the  belief  of 
his  existence,  and  the  acknow- 
ledgment of  his  perfections,  but 
has  no  influence  on  the  heart  and 
conduct.  A  spiritual  saving  know- 
ledge consists  in  veneration  for  the 
Divine  Being,  Psal.  Ixxxix,  7. 
love  to  him  as  an  object  of  beauty 
and  goodness,  Zech.  ix,  17.  hum- 
ble confidence  in  his  mercy  and 
promise,  Psal.  ix,  10.  and  sincere, 
uniform,  and  persevering  obedience 
to  his  word,  1st  John  ii,  3.  It 
may  farther  be  considered  as  a 
knowledge  of  God,  the  Father  ;  of 
his  love,  faithfulness,  power,  &c. 
Of  the  Son,  as  it  relates  to  the  dig- 
nity of  his  nature,  1  st  John  v,  20. 


the  suitability  of  his  offices,  Keb^ 
ix.  the  perfection  of  his  work. 
Psalm  Ixviii,  18.  the  bright- 
ness of  his  example.  Acts  x,  38. 
and  the  prevalency  of  his  inter- 
cession, Heb.  vii,  25.  Of  the  Holy 
Ghost,  as  equal  M'ith  the  Father 
and  the  Son;  of  his  agency  as  en- 
li^htener  and  comforter ;  as  also 
in  his  work  of  witnessing,  sanc- 
tifying, and  directing  his  people, 
John  XV,  xvi.  2d  Cor.  iii,  IT,  18. 
John  iii,  .5,  6.  Rom.  viii,  16. 
This  knowledge  may  be  considered 
as  experimental,  2d'  Tim.  i,  12. 
fiducial.  Job  xiii,  15,  16.  affection- 
ate, 1st  John  iii,  19.  influential, 
Ps.  ix,  10.  Matt.  V,  16.  humiliat- 
ing, Isa.  vi.  Job  xlii,  5,  6.  satisfy^ 
ing,  Psal.  xxxvi,  7.  Prov.  iii,  17. 
and  superior  to  all  other  know~ 
ledge,  Phil,  iii,  8.  The  advan- 
tages of  religious  knowledge  are 
every  way  great.  It  forms  the 
basis  of  true  honour  and  felicity. 
*«  Not  all  the  lustre  of  a  noble 
birth,  not  all  the  affluence  of 
wealth,  not  all  the  pomp  of  titles, 
not  all  the  splendor  of  power, 
can  give  dignity  to  a  soul  that 
is  destitute  of  inward  improve- 
ment. By  this  we  are  allied  to 
angels,  and  are  capable  of  ris- 
ing for  ever  in  the  scale  of 
being.  •  Such  is  Its  inherent 
worth,  that  it  hath  always  been 
represented  under  the  most  pleas- 
ing images.  In  particular,  it  hath 
been  compared  to  light,  the  most 
valuable  and  reviving  part  of  Na- 
ture's works,  and  to  that  glorious 
luminary  which  is  the  most  beau- 
tiful and  transporting  object  our 
eyes  behold.  If  we  entertain  any 
doubts  concerning  the  intrinsic  va- 
lue of  religious  knowledge,  let  us 


KNO 


460 


KNO 


look  around  us,  and  we  shall  be 
fully  convinced  how  desirable  it  is 
to  be  acquainted  with  God,  with 
spiritual,  with  eternal  things.  Ob- 
serve the  difference  between  a  cul- 
tivated and  a  barren  country. 
While  the  former  is  a  lovely, 
cheerful,  and  delightful  sight,  the 
other  administers  a  spectacle  of 
horror.  There  is  an  equal  dif- 
ference between  the  nations  among 
whom  the  principles  of  piety  pre- 
vail, and  the  nations  that  are  over- 
run with  idolatry,  superstition,  and 
error.  Knowledge,  also,  is  of 
great  importance  to  our  personal 
and  private  felicity  :  it  furnishes  a 
pleasure  that  cannot  be  met  with 
in  the  possession  of  inferior  enjoy- 
ments j  a  fine  entertainment, 
which  adds  a  relish  to  prosperity, 
and  alleviates  the  hour  of  distress. 
It  throws  a  lustre  on  greatness,  and 
reflects  an  honour  upon  poverty. 
Knowledge  Vv^ill  likewise  instruct 
us  how  to  apply  our  several  talents 
for  the  benefit  of  mankind.  It 
will  make  us  capable  of  advising 
and  regulating  others.  Hence  we 
may  become  the  lights  of  the 
world,  and  may  diffuse  those  be- 
neficent beams  around  us,  which 
shall  shine  on  benighted  travellers, 
and  discover  the  path  of  rectitude 
and  bliss.  This  knowledge,  also, 
tends  to  destroy  bigotry  and  en- 
thusiasm. To  this  we  are  indebt- 
ed for  the  important  change  which 
hath  been  made  since  the  begin- 
ning of  the  reformation.  To  this 
we  are  indebted  for  the  general 
cultivation  and  refinement  of  the 
understandings  of  men.  It  is  owing 
to  this  that  even  arbitrary  govern- 
ments seem  to  have  lost  something 
©f  their  original  ferocity,  and  th.>' 


there  is  a  source  of  improvement 
in  Europe  which  will,  we  hope,  in 
future  times,  shed  the  most  de- 
lightful influences  on  society,  and 
unite  its  members  in  harmony, 
peace,  and  love.  But  the  advan- 
tages of  knowledge  are  still  great- 
er, for  it  points  out  to  us  an  eter- 
nal felicity.  The  several  branches 
of  human  science  are  intended  on- 
ly to  bless  and  adorn  our  present 
existence ;  but  religious  know- 
ledge bids  us  provide  for  an  im- 
mortal being,  sets  the  path  of  sal- 
vation before  us,  and  is  our  insepa- 
rable companion  in  the  road  to 
glory.  As  it  instructs  in  the  way 
to  endless  bliss,  so  it  will  survive 
that  mighty  day  when  all  worldly 
literature  and  accomplishments  shall 
for  ever  cease.  At  that  solemn 
period,  in  which  the  records  and 
registers  of  men  shall  be  destroy- 
ed, the  systems  of  human  policy  be 
dissolved,  and  the  grandest  works 
of  genius  die,  the  wisdom  which 
is  spiritual  and  heavenly  shall  not 
only  subsist,  but  be  increased  to 
an  extent  that  human  nature  can- 
not in  this  life  admit.  Our  views 
of  things,  at  present,  are  obscure, 
imperfect,  partial,  and  liable "  to 
error  ;  but  when  we  arrive  to  the 
realms  of  everlasting  light,  the 
clouds  that  shadowed  our  under- 
standing will  be  removed ;  we  shall 
behold  with  amazing  clearness  the 
attributes,  ways,  and  works  of 
God  ;  shall  perceive  more  distinct- 
ly the  design  of  his  dispensations ; 
shall  trace  with  rapture  the  won- 
ders of  nature  and  grace,  and  be- 
come acquainted  with  a  thousand 
glorious  objects,  of  which  the  ima- 


gmation  can  as 
ceptioii." 


ret  have  no  con- 


KOR 


461 


KOR 


In  order  to  increase  in  the 
knowledge  of  God,  there  must  be 
dependance  on  Him  from  whom 
all  light  proceeds,  James  i,  6. 
attention  to  his  revealed  will,  John 
V,  39.  a  watchful  spirit  against 
corrupt  affect  ions,  Luke  xxi,  34. 
a  humble  frame  of  mind,  Ps.  xxv, 
9.  frequent  meditation,  Ps.  civ, 
34.  a  persevering  desire  for  con- 
formity to  the  Divine  image,  Hos. 
vi,  3.  CharnocH's  Works^  vol.  ii,  p. 
381 ;  Saurin's  Serm.,  vol.  i,  ser.  1  j 
GilPs  Body  ofDiv.y  vol.  iii,  p.  12, 
Oct.;  TillotsoJi's  Serm.y  ser.  113  j 
WattfPs  Workf!y  vol.  i,  ser,  45. 

KNOWLEDGE  OF  GOD.  See 
Omniscience. 

KORAN,  or  Alcoran,  the 
scripture  or  bible  of  the  Mahome- 
tans, containing  the  revelations 
and  doctrines  of  their  pretended 
prophet. 

1.  Korariy  divisions  of  the.  The 
Koran  is  divided  into  one  hundred 
and  fourteen  larger  portions  of 
very  unequal  length,  which,  we 
call  chaptersy  but  the  Arabians 
Soxvm-y  -in  the  singular  Sura;  a 
word  rarely  used  on  any  other 
occasion,  and  properly  signifying 
a  row,  or  a  regular  series  ;  as  a 
course  of  bricks  in  building,  or  a 
rank  of  soldiers  in  an  army,  and  is 
the  same  in  use  and  import  with 
the  Sura,  or  Tora,  of  the  Jews ; 
who  also  call  the  fifty-three  sec- 
tions of  the  Pentateuch  Sedarimy 
a  word  of  the  same  signification. 
These  chapters  are  not,  in  the 
manuscript  copies,  distinguished  by 
their  numerical  order,  but  by  par- 
ticular titles  which  arc  taken 
sometimes  from  a  peculiar  subject 
treated  of,  or  person  mentioned 
therein;     usually    from   the    first 


word  of  note,  exactly  in  the  same 
manner  as  the  Jews  have  named 
their  Sedarim ;  though  the  word 
from  which  some  chapters  are  de- 
nominated be  very  distant  to- 
wards the  middle,  or  perhaps  the 
end,  of  the  chapter  ;  which  seems 
ridiculous.  But  the  occasion  of 
this  appears  to  have  been,  that 
the  verse  or  passage  wherein  such 
word  occurs,  was,  in  point  of  time, 
revealed  and  committed  to  writing 
before  the  other  verses  of  the  same 
chapter  which  precede  it  in  order  ; 
and  the  title  being  given  to  the 
chapter  before  it  v/as  completed, 
or  the  passages  reduced  to  their 
present  order,  the  verse  from 
whence  such  title  was  taken  did 
not  always  happen  to  begin  the 
chapter.  Some  chapters  have  two 
or  more  titles,  occasioned  by  the 
difference  of  the  copies.  Some  of 
them  being  pretended  to  have  been 
revealed  at  Mecca,  and  others  at 
Medina,  the  noting  this  difference 
makes  a  part  of  the  title.  Every 
chapter  is  divided  into  smaller  por- 
tions, of  very  unequal  length  also, 
which  we  customarily  call  verses  ; 
but  the  Arabic  word  is  Ayaty  the 
same  with  the  Hebrew  Otothy  and 
signifies  signs  or  rvonders :  such  as 
the  secrets  of  God,  his  attributes, 
works,  judgments,  and  ordinances 
delivered  in  those  verses  ;  many  of 
which  have  their  particular  titles, 
also,  imposed  in  the  same  manner 
as  those  of  the  chapters.  Besides 
these  unequal  divisions,  the  Ma- 
hometans have  also  divided  their 
Koran  into  sixty  equal  portions, 
which  they  call  Ahzaby  in  the 
singular  Bi-zby  each  subdivided  in- 
to four  equal  parts ;  which  \i 
likewise  an  imitation  of  the  Jews, 


OR 


462 


KOR 


who  have  an  ancient  division  of 
their  Mishrta  into  sixty  portions, 
called  Massictoth.  But  the  Koran 
is  more  usually  divided  into  thirty 
sections  only,  named  Ajaza,  from 
the  singular  Joz,  each  of  twice  the 
length  of  the  former,  and  in  like 
manner  subdivided  into  four  parts. 
These  divisions  are  for  the  use  of 
the  readers  of  the  Koran  in  the 
royal  temples,  or  in  the  adjoining 
chapels  u'here  the  emperors  and 
gr^at  men  are  interred  ;  of  whom 
there  are  thirty  belonging  to  every 
chapel,  and  each  reads  his  section 
every  day;  so  that  the  v/hole 
Koran  is  read  over  once  a  day. 
Next  after  the  title,  at  the  name 
of  every  chapter  except  only  the 
ninth,  is  prefixed  the  following  so- 
lemn form,  by  the  Mahometans 
called  theBismallah. — "In  the  name  li 
of  the  most  merciful  God ;"  which  i' 
form  they  constantly  place  at  the  | 
beginning  of  all  their  books  and  11 
■viTitings  in  general,  as  a  peculiar  { 
mark  or  distinguishing  character- li 
istic  of  their  religion,  it  being] 
counted  a  sort  of  impiety  to  omit 
it.  The  Jews,  and  eastern  Chris- 
tians, for  the  same  purpose,  make 
use  of  similar  forms.  But  Mahomet 
probably  took  this  form  from  the 
Persian  Magi,  who  began  their 
books  in  these  words,  Benmn  Tez- 
dam  bak^haishgher  dadar  ;  that  is, 
In  the  natne  of  the  most  merciful 
just  God.  There  are  twenty-nine 
chapters  of  the  Koran,  which  have 
this  peculiarity,  that  they  begin 
with  certain  letters  of  the  alphabet, 
som.e  with  a  single  one,  others  with 
more.  These  letters  the  Maho- 
metans believe  to  be  the  pecu- 
liar mark  of  the  Koran,  and  to 
conceal  several  profound  mysteries  \ 


the  certain  understanding  of  which, 
the  more  intelligent  confess,  has 
not  been  communicated  to  any 
mortal,  their  prophet  only  ex- 
cepted :  notwithstanding  which, 
some  take  the  liberty  of  guessing 
at  their  meaning  by  that  species  of 
cabala  called  by  the  Jews  Nota- 
r'lkon. 

2.  Koran^  general  design  of  the. 
The  general  design  of  the  Koran 
was  to  unite  the  professors  of  the 
three  different  religions,  then  fol- 
lowed in  the  populous  country  of 
Arabia  (who,  for  the  most  part, 
wandered  without  guides,  the  far 
greater  number  being  idolaters, 
and  the  rest  Jews  and  Christians, 
mostly  of  erroneous  opinions),  in 
the  knowledge  and  worship  of  one 
God,  under  the  sanction  of  cer- 
tain laws  and  ceremonies,  partly 
of  ancient,  and  partly  of  novel  in- 
stitution, enforced  by  the  conside- 
ration of  rewards  and  punishments 
both  temporal  and  eternal ;  and  to 
bring  them  all  to  the  obedience  of 
Mahomet,  as  the  prophet  and  em- 
bassador of  God  -,  who,  after  the 
repeated  admonitions,  promises, 
and  threats,  of  former  ages,  was 
sent  at  last  to  establish  and  pro- 
pagate God's  religion  on  earth ; 
and  to  be  acknowledged  chief 
pontifFin  spiritual  matters,  as  well 
as  supreme  prince  in  temporal. 
The  great  doctrine,  then,  of  the 
Koran  is  the  unity  of  God ;  to 
restore  which,  Mahomet  pretend- 
ed, was  the  chief  end  of  his  mis- 
sion ;  it  being  laid  down  by  him 
as  a  fundamental  truth,  That  there 
never  was,  nor  ever  can  be,  more 
than  one  true  orthodox  religion  ; 
that,  though  the  particular  law* 
or  ceremonies  are  only  temporary 


KOR 


463 


KOR 


and  subject  to  alteration,  accord- 
ing to  the  Divine  direction  ;  yet 
the  -substance  of  it,  being  eternal 
truth,  is  not  liable  to  change,  but 
continues  immutably  the  same : 
and  that,  whenever  this  religion 
became  neglected  or  corrupted 
in  essentials,  God  had  the  good- 
ness to  re-inform  and  re-admonish 
mankind  thereof  by  several  pro- 
phets, of  whom  Moses  and  Jesus 
were  the  most  distinguished,  till 
the  appearance  of  Mahomet,  who 
is  their  seal,  and  no  other  to  be 
expected  after  him.  The  more 
effectually  to  engage  people  to 
hearken  to  him,  great  part  of  the 
Koran  is  employed  in  relating  ex- 
amples of  dreadful  punishments 
formerly  inflicted  by  God  on  those 
who  rejected  and  abused  his  mes- 
sengers •,  several  of  which  stories, 
or  some  circumstances  of  them, 
"are  taken  from  the  Old  and  New 
Testaments,  but  many  more  from 
the  apocryphal  books  and  tradi- 
tions of  the  Jews  and  Christians  of 
those  ages,  set  up  in  the  Koran 
as  truths,  in  opposition  to  the 
scriptures,  which  the  Jews  and 
Christians  are  charged  with  hav- 
ing altered  :  and,  indeed,  few  or 
none  of  the  relations  of  circum- 
stances in  the  Koran  were  invented 
by  Mahomet,  as  is  generally  sup- 
posed ;  it  being  easy  to  trace  the 
greatest  part  of  them  much  higher, 
as  the  rest  might  be,  were  more  of 
those  books  extant,  and  were  it 
worth  while  to  make  the  inquiry. 
The  rest  of  the  Alcoran  is  taken 
up  in  prescribing  necessary  laws 
and  directions,  frequent  admo- 
nitions to  moral  and  Divine  vir- 
tues, the  worship  and  reverence  of 
the    Supreme   Being,    and   resig- 


nation to  his  will.  One  of  their 
most  learned  commentators  distin- 
guishes the  contents  of  the  Al- 
coran into  allegorical  and  literal : 
under  the  former  are  comprehend- 
ed all  the  obscure,  parabolical,  and 
enigmatical  passages,  with  such 
laws  as  are  repealed  or  abrogated  ; 
the  latter,  such  as  are  clear,  and 
in  full  force.  The  most  excellent 
moral  in  the  whole  Alcoran,  inter- 
preters say,  is  that  in  the  chapter 
Al  Alrafy  viz.  "  Shew  mercy,  do 
good  to  all,  and  dispute  not  with 
the  ignorant ;"  or,  as  Mr.  Sale 
renders  it.  Use  indulgence,  com- 
mand that  which  is  just,  and  with- 
draw far  from  the  ignorant.  Ma- 
homet, according  to  the  authors 
of  the  Kescloaft  having  begged  of 
the  angel  Gabriel  a  more  ample 
explication  of  this  passage,  receiv- 
ed it  in  the  following  terms  : 
"Seek  him  who  turns  thee  out, 
give  to  him  who  takes  from  thee, 
pardon  him  who  injures  thee  -,  for 
God  will  have  you  plant  in  your 
souls  the  roots  of  his  chief  per- 
fections." It  is  easy  to  see  that 
this  Commentary  is  borrowed  from 
the  gospel.  In  reality,  the  neces- 
sity of  forgiving  enemies,  though 
frequently  Inculcated  in  the  Al- 
coran, is  of  a  later  date  among  the 
Mahometans  than  among  the 
Christians;'  among  those  later  than 
among  the  heathens ;  and  to  be 
traced  originally  among  the  Jews. 
(See  Exodus  xxxiil,  4,  5).  But  it 
matters  not  so  much  who  had  it 
first  as  who  observes  it  best.  The 
caliph  Hassan,  son  of  Hall,  being 
at  table,  a  slave  let  fall  a  dish  of 
meat  reeking  hot,  which  scalded 
him  severely.  The  slave  fell  on  his 
knees  reheitrsing   these   words   of 


KO  R 


464 


KOR 


the  Alcoran,  "Paradise  is  for  those 
who  restrain  their  anger."  "  I  am 
not  angry  with  thee,"  answered 
the  caliph.  "And  for  those  who 
forgive  offences  against  them," 
continues  the  slave.  "  I  forgive 
thee  thine,"  replies  the  caliph. 
"  But,  above  all,  for  those  who  re- 
turn good  for  evil,"  adds  the  slave. 
"  I  set  thee  at  liberty,"  rejoined 
the  caliph ;  "  and  I  give  thee  ten 
dinars."  There  are  also  a  great 
number  of  occasional  passages  in 
the  Alcoran  relating  only  to  par- 
ticular emergencies.  For  this  ad- 
vantage Mahomet  had,  by  his 
piecemeal  method  of  receiving  and 
delivering  his  revelations,  that, 
whenever  he  happened  to  be  per- 
plexed with  any  thing,  he  had  a 
certain  resource  in  some  new  mor- 
sel of  revelation.  It  was  an  ad- 
mirable contrivance  to  bring  down 
the  whole  Alcoran  only  to  the 
lowest  heaven,  not  to  earth  ;  since, 
had  the  whole  been  published  at 
once,  innumerable  oljjections  would 
have  been  made,  which  it  would 
have  been  impossible  for  him  to 
have  solved  -,  but  as  he  received  it 
by  parcels,  as  God  saw  fit  they 
should  be  published  for  the  con- 
version and  instruction  of  the  peo- 
ple, he  had  a  sure  way  to  ansvrer 
all  emergencies,  and  to  extricate 
himself  with  honour  from  any  dif- 
ficulty which  might  occur. 

3.  Koran-^  history  cf  the.  It  is  the 
common  opinion,  that  Mahomet, 
assisted  by  one  Scrgius,  a  monk, 
composed  this  book  ;  but  the  Mus- 
sulmen  believe  it  as  an  article  of 
their  faiih,  that  the  prophet,  who, 
they  say,'  was  an  illiterate  man, 
had  no  concern  in  inditing  it ;  but 
that    it  was  given    him  by    God, 


who,  to  that  end,  made  use  of  the 
ministry  of  the  angel  Gabriel; 
that,  however,  it  was  communi- 
cated to  him  by  little  and  little, 
a  verse  at  a  time,  and  in  different 
places  during  the  course  of  23 
years. — "  And  hence,"  say  they, 
"proceed  that  disorder  and  con- 
fusion visible  in  the  work ;"  which, 
in  truth,  are  so  great,  that  all 
their  doctors  have  never  been  able 
to  adjust  them  j  for  Mahomet,  or 
rather  his  copyist,  having  put  all 
the  loose  verses  promiscuously  in 
a  book  together,  it  was  impossible 
ever  to  retrieve  the  order  wherein 
they  were  delivered.  Those  23 
years,  which  the  angel  employed 
in  conveying  the  Alcoran  to  Ma- 
homet, are  of  wonderful  service  to 
his  followers ;  inasmuch  as  they 
furnish  them  with  an  answer  to 
such  as  tax  them  with  those  glar- 
ing contradictions  of  -which  the 
book  is  full,  and  which  they  pi- 
ously father  upon  God  himself  ; 
alleging  that,  in  the  course  of  so 
long  a  time,  he  repealed  and  al- 
tered several  doctrines  and  pre- 
cepts which  the  prophet  had  be- 
fore received  of  him.  M.  D'Herbe- 
lot  thinks  it  probable,  that  when 
the  heresies  of  the  Nestorians,  Eu- 
tychians,  &c.,  had  been  con- 
demned by  oecumenical  councils, 
many  bishops,  priests,  monks,  &c., 
being  driven  into  the  deserts  of 
Arabia  and  Egypt,  furnished  the 
impostor  with  passages,  and  crude 
ill-conceived  doctrines,  out  of  the 
scriptures ;  and  that  it  was  hence 
that  the  Alcoran  became  so  full 
of  the  wild  and  erroneous  opinions 
of  those  heretics.  The  Jews  also, 
who  were  very  numerous  in  Ara- 
bia,   furnished    materials    for   the 


KOR 


465 


KOR 


Alcoran  ;  nor  is  it  without  some 
reason  that  they  boast  twel-ve  of 
their  chief  doctors  to  have  been 
the  authors  of  this  work.  The 
Alcoran,  while  Mahomet  lived, 
was  only  kept  in  loose  sheets  :  his 
successor,  Abubeker,  first  collected 
theni  into  a  volume,  and  commit- 
ted the  keeping  of  it  to  Haphsa, 
the  widow  of  Mahomet,  in  order 
to  be  consulted  as  an  original ; 
and  there  being  a  good  deal  of 
diversity  between  the  several  co- 
pies already  dispersed  throughout 
the  provinces,  Ottoman,  successor 
of  Abubeker,  procured  a  great 
number  of  copies  to  be  taken  from 
that  of  Haphsa,  at  the  same 
time  suppressing  all  the  others  not 
conformable  to  the  original.  The 
chief  differences  in  the  present 
copies  of  this  book  consist  in  the 
points,  which  were  not  in  use  in 
the  time  of  Mahomet  and  his  im- 
mediate successors  ;  but  were  add- 
ed  since,  to  ascertain  the  read- 
ing, after  the  example  of  the  Mas- 
soretes,  who  added  the  like 
points  to  the  Hebrew  texts  of 
scripture.  There  are  seven  prin- 
cipal editions  of  the  Alcoran  ;  two 
at  Medina,  one  at  Mecca,  one  at 
Cufa,  one  at  Bassora,  one  in  Syria, 
and  the  common,  or  Vulgate  edi- 
tion. The  first  contains  6000 
verses,  the  others  surpassing  this 
number  by  200  or  236  verses  j 
but  the  number  of  words  and  let- 
ters is  the  same  in  all ;  viz.  77,639 
words,  and  323,015  letters.  The 
number  of  commentaries  on  the 
Alcoran  is  so  large,  that  the  bare 
titles  would  make  a  huge  volume. 
Ben  Oschair  has  v/ritten  the  his- 
tory of  them,  entitled,  Tarikh  Ben 
Gsckair.  The  principal  among 
Vol.  I.  3  C) 


them  are,  Reidhaori,  Thaalebi, 
Zamalchschari,  and  Bacai.  The 
Mahometans  have  a  positive  theo- 
logy built  on  the  Alcoran  and 
tradition,  as  well  as  a  scholastical 
one  built  on  reason.  They  have 
likewise  their  casuists,  and  a  kind 
of  canon  law,  wherein  they  dis- 
tinguish between  what  is  of  divine 
and  what  of  positive  right.  They 
have  their  beneficiaries,  too,  chap>- 
lains,  almoners,  and  canons,  who 
read  a  chapter  every  day  out  of 
the  Alcoran  in  the  mosques,  and 
have  prebends  annexed  to  their 
ofnce.  The  hatib  of  the  mosque 
is  what  we  call  the  parson  of  the 
parish ;  and  the  scheics  are  the 
preachers,  who  take  their  texts 
out  of  the  Alcoran. 

4.  Koran^  Mahometan  faith  cori' 
cerning:  It  is  the  general  belief 
among  the  Mahometans  that  the 
Koran  is  of  divine  original ;  nay, 
that  it  is  eternal  and  uncreated ; 
remaining,  as  some  express  it,  in 
the  very  essence  of  God  :  that  the 
first  transcript  has  been  from  ever- 
lasting, by  God's  throne,  written 
on  a  table  of  vast  bigness,  called 
the  preserved  table^  in  which  ai"e 
also  recorded  the  Divine  decrees, 
past  and  future  ;  that  a  copy  from 
this  table,  in  one  volume  on  pa- 
per, was  by  the  ministry  of  the 
angel  Gabriel  sent  down  to  the 
lowest  heaven  in  the  month  of 
Ramadan,  on  the  night  of  poxver^ 
from  whence  Gabriel  revealed  it 
to  ^lahomet  by  parcels,  some 
at  Mecca,  and  some  at  Medina, 
at  different  times,  during  the 
space  of  twenty-three  years,  as 
the  exigency  of  affairs  required; 
giving  him,  however,  the  conso- 
j  i-.uion    to    shew    him    the    whole 


KOR 


466 


KOR 


(which  they  tell  us  was  bound  in 
silk,  and  adorned  with  gold  and 
precious  stones  of  paradise)  once 
a  year  ;  but  in  the  last  year  of  his 
life  he  had  the  favour  to  see    it 
twice.     The\'  say,  that  only   ten 
chapters  were  delivered  entire,  the 
rest  being  revealed  piecemeal,  and 
written  down  from  time  to  time 
by   the   prophet's  amanuensis,  in 
such  a  part  of  such  and  such  a 
chapter,  till  they  were  completed, 
according  to  the  directions  of  the 
angel.     The  first  parcel  that  was 
revealed  is    generally    agreed    to 
have  been  the  five  first  verses  of  the 
ninety-sixth-chapter.    In  fiae,  the 
book  of  tlie  Alcoran  is    held    in 
the  highest  esteem  and  reverence 
among   the    Mussulmans.     Thev 
dare  not    so    much  as  touch  the 
Alcoran  without  being  first  wash- 
ed, or  legally   purified  :    to    pre- 
vent Vv'hich  j^  inscription  is  put 
on  the  cover  or  label, — '-Let  none 
touch  but  they  who  are  clean.  It 
is  read   v/ith  great  care    and  re- 
spect, being  never  held  below  the 
girdle.     They  swear  by  it ;  take 
omens  from  it  on  all  weighty  oc- 
casions ;  carry    it    with    them   to 
war  ;  write  sentences  of  it  on  their 
banners  ;  adorn  it  with  gold  and 
precious   stones ;    and    knowingly 
suffer  it  not  to  be  in  the  possession 
of   any    of    a    different   religion. 
Some  savthat  it  is  punishable  even 
with    death,    in    a    Christian,    to 
touch  it;  others,  that  the  venera- 
tion of  the  Mussulmans  leads  them 
to  condemn  the  translating  it  into 
any  other  language,    as  a  prolana- 
uo;i :  but  these  seem  to  be  exag- 
gerations. The  Mahometans  have 
taken  care  to  have  their  scripture 
(vanslaled  into   the   Persian,    the 


Javan,  tTie  Malayan,  and  other 
languages ;  though,  out  of  re- 
spect to  the  original,  these  ver- 
sions are  generally,  if  not  always, 
interlineated. 

5.  Koran^  success  of  the^  account- 
ed for.  The  author  of  the  '*  View 
of  Christianity  and  Mahometan- 
ism"  observes,  that,  "  by  the  ad- 
vocates of  Mahometanism,  the 
Koran  has  always  been  held  forth 
as  the  greatest  of  miracles,  and 
equally  stupendous  with  the  act 
of  raising  the  dead.  The  miracles 
of  Moses  and  Jesus,  they  say,  were 
transient  and  temporary  ;  but  that 
of  the  Koran  is  permanent  and 
perpetual,  and  therefore  far  sur- 
passes all  the  miraculous  events  of 
preceding  ages.  \¥e  will  not  de- 
tract from  the  real  merit  of  the 
Koran  ;  we  allow  it  to  be  gene- 
rally elegant,  and  often  sublime  ; 
but  at  the  same  time  we  reject 
with  disdain  its  arrogant  pretence 
to  any  thing  supernatural,  all  the 
real  excellence  of  the  work  being 
easily  referable  to  natural  and 
visible  causes.  In  the  language 
of  Arabia,  a  language  extremely 
loved,  and  diligently  cultivated  by 
the  people  to  wh,om  it  was  verna- 
cular, Mahomet  found  advanta- 
ges which  were  never  enjoved  by 
any  former  or  succeeding  impos- 
tor. It  requires  not  the  eye  of  a 
•philosopher  to  discover  in  every 
soil  and  country  a  principle  of  na- 
tional pride  :  and  if  we  look  back 
for  many  ages  on  the  history  of  the 
Arabians,  we  shall  easily  perceive 
that  pride  among  them  invariably 
to  have  consisted  in  the  knowledge 
and  improvement  of  their  native 
language.  The  Arabic,  which 
has  been  justly  esteemed  the  most 


KO   R 


467 


KOR 


copious  of  the  eastern  tongues, 
which  had  existed  from  the  re- 
motest antiquity,  which  had  been 
embellished  by  numberless  poets, 
and  refined  by  the  constant  exer- 
cise of  the  natives,  was  the  most 
successful  instrument  which  Ma- 
homet employed  in  planting  his 
new  religion  among  them.  Ad- 
mirably adapted  by  its  unrivalled 
harmony,  and  by  its  endless  vari- 
ety, to  add  painting  to  expression, 
and  to  pursue  the  imagination  in 
its  unbounded  flight,  it  became  in 
the  hands  of  Mahomet  an  irre- 
sistible charm  to  blind  the  judg- 
ment and  to  captivate  the  fancy 
of  his  followers.  Of  that  descrip- 
tion of  men  who  first  composed 
the  adherents  of  Mahomet,  and 
to  whom  the  Koran  was  addressed, 
few,  probably,  were  able  to  pass 
a  very  accurate  judgment  on  the 
propriety  of  the  sentiments,  or  on 
the  beauty  of  the  diction :  but  all 
could  judge  of  the  military  abili- 
ties of  their  leader;  and  in  the 
midst  of  their  admiration  it  is  not 
difficult  to  conceive  that  they 
would  ascribe  to  his  compositions 
every  imaginary  beauty  of  in- 
spired language.  The  shepherd 
and  the  soldier,  though  awake  to 
the  charms  of  those  wild  but 
beautiful  compositions  in  which 
were  celebrated  their  favourite 
occupations  of  love  or  war,  were 
yet  little  able  to  ci'iticise  any  other 
works  than  those  which  were  ad- 
dressed to  their  imagination  or  their 
heart.  To  abstract  reasonings  on 
the  attributes  and  the  dispensa- 
tions of  the  Deity,  to  the  compa- 
rative excellencies  of  rival  reli- 
gions, to  the  consistency  of  any 
one  religious  system  in  all  its  parts, 


and  to  the  force  of  its  various 
proofs,  they  were  quite  inatten- 
tive. In  such  a  situation,  the  ap- 
pearance of  a  work  which  pos- 
sessed something  like  wisdom  and 
consistence  ;  which  prescribed  the 
rules  and  illustrated  the  duties  of 
life ;  and  which  contained  the 
principles  of  a  new  and  compa- 
ratively sublime  theology,  inde- 
pendently of  its  real  and  perma- 
nent merit,  was  likely  to  excite 
their  astonishment,  and  to  become 
the  standard  of  fut,ure  composi- 
tion. In  the  first  periods  of  the 
literature  of  every  country,  some- 
thing of  this  kind  has  happened. 
The  father  of  Grecian  poetry  very 
obviously  influenced  the  taste  and 
imitation  of  his  country.  The 
modern  nations  of  Eui'ope  all 
possess  some  original  author,  who, 
rising  from  the  darkness  of  former 
ages,  has  begun  the  career  of 
composition,  and  tinctured  with 
the  character  of  his  own  imagina- 
tion the  stream  which  has  flowed 
through  his  posterity.  But  the 
prophet  of  Arabia  had  in  this  re- 
spect advantages  peculiar  to  him- 
self. His  compositions  were  not 
to  his  followers  the  works  of  man, 
but  the  genuine  language  of  hea- 
ven which  had  sent  him.  They 
were  not 'confined,  therefore,  to 
that  admiration  which  is  so  libe- 
rally bestowed  on  the  earliest  pro- 
ductions of  genius,  or  to  that  fond 
attachment  with  which  men  every 
where  regard  the  original  compo- 
sitions of  their  country ;  but 
with  their  admiration  they  blend- 
ed their  piety.  To  know  and  to 
feel  the  beauties  of  the  Koran, 
was  in  some  respect  to  share  in  the 
temper  of  heaven  ;  and  he  who 


iOR 


468 


KOR 


was  most  affected  with  admiration 
in  the  perusal  of  its  beauties, 
seemed  fitly  the  object  of  that 
mercy  which  had  given  it  to  igno- 
rant man.  The  Koran,  therefore, 
became  naturally  and  necessarily 
the  standard  of  taste.  With  a 
language  thus  hallov/cd  in  their 
imaginations,  they  were  too  well 
satisfied  either  to  dispute  its  ele- 
gance, or  improve  its  structure. 
In  succeeding  ages,  the  additional 
sanction  of  antiquity,  or  prescrip- 
tion, was  given  to  these  composi- 
tions which  their  fathers  had  ad- 
mired ;  and  while  the  belief  of  its 
divine  original  continues,  that  ad- 
mirfeition  which  has  thus  become 
the  test  and  the  duty  of  the  faith- 
ful, can  neither  be  altered  nor  di- 
minished. When,  therefore,  we 
consider  these  peculiar  advantages 
of  the  Koran,  we  have  no  reason 
to  be  surprised  at  the  admiration 
in  which  it  is  held.  But  if,  de- 
scending to  a  more  minute  in- 
vestigation of  it,  we  consider  its 
perpetual  inconsistence  and  ab- 
surdity, we  sliaii  indeed  have  cause 
for  astonishment  at  that  weakness 
of  humanity,  v.'hich  could  ever 
have  received  such  compositions 
as  the  work  of  the  Deity." 

6.  Kora'ii^  the  style  and  merits 
ofthe^  examined.  "The  first  praise 
of  all  the  productions  of  genius 
(continues  this  author)  is  inven- 
tion ;  that  quality  of  the  mind, 
which,  by  the  extent  and  quick- 
ness of  its  views,  is  capable  of  the 
largest  conceptions,  and  of  form- 
ing iiew  combinations  of  objects 
the  most  (Jistant  and  unusual.  But 
the  Koran  bears  little  impression 
of  this  transcendent  character. 
Its  mv!.terials  are  v/hoilv  borrowed 


from  the  Jewish  and  Christian 
scriptures,  from  the  Talmudical 
legends  and  apocryphal  gospels 
then  current  in  the  east,  and  from 
the  traditions  and  fables  which 
abounded  in  Arabia.  The  mate- 
rials collected  from  these  several 
sources  are  here  heaped  together 
with  perpetual  and  needless  repe- 
titions, without  any  settled  princi- 
ple or  visible  connexion.  When 
a  great  part  of  the  life  of  Maho- 
met had  been  spent  in  prepara- 
tory meditation  on  the  system  he 
was  about  to  establi-oh,  its  chap- 
ters were  dealt  out  slowly  and  se- 
parately during  the  long  period  of 
twenty-three  years.  Yet,  thus  de- 
fective in  its  structure,  ai?d  no 
less  exceptionable  in  its  doctrines, 
was  the  work  which  Mahomet  de- 
livered to  his  followers  as  the  ora- 
cles of  God.  The  most  promi- 
nent feature  of  the  Koran,  that 
point  of  excellence  in  which  the 
partiality  of  its  admirers  has  ever 
delighted  to  view  it,  is  the  sub- 
lime notion  it  generall)^  impresses 
of  the  nature  and  attributes  of 
God.  If  its  author  had  really 
derived  these  just  conceptions  from 
the  Inspiration  of  that  Being  whom 
they  attempt  to  describe,  they 
would  not  have  been  surrounded, 
as  they  now  are  on  every  side, 
with  error  and  absurdity.  But  it 
might  be  easily  proved,  that  what- 
ever it  justly  defines  of  the  Divine 
attributes  was  borrowed  Irom  our 
holy  scripture  ;  which  even  from 
its  first  promulgation,  but  especi- 
ally from  the  completion  of  the 
Nev/  Testament,  has  extended 
the  views  and  enlightened  the  un- 
deTstandings  of  mankind;  and  thus 
furnished  them  with  arms  v.hich 


KOR 


469 


KOR 


have  too  often  been  ineffectually 
turned  against  itself  by  its  unge- 
nerous enemies.  In  this  instance, 
particularly,  the  copy  is  far  below 
tlie  great  original,  both  in  the 
propriety  of  its  images  and  the 
force  of  its  descriptions." 

7.  Koran,  the  sublimity  of  the^ 
contrasted.  "  Our  holy  scriptures 
are  the  only  compositions  that 
can  enable  the  dim  sight  of  mor- 
tality to  penetrate  into  the  invisi- 
ble world,  and  to  behold  a  glimpse 
of  the  Divine  perfections.  Ac- 
cordingly, when  they  would  repre- 
sent to  us  the  happiness  of  heaven, 
they  describe  it,  not  by  any  thing 
minute  and  particular,  but  by 
something  general  and  great ; 
something  that,  without  descend- 
ing to  any  determinate  object, 
may  at  once  by  its  beauty  and  im- 
mensity excite  our  wishes,  and 
elevate  our  affections.  Though  in 
the  prophetical  and  evangelical 
writings  the  joys  that  shall  at- 
tend us  in  a  future  state  are  of- 
ten mentioned  with  ardent  admi- 
ration, they  are  expressed  rather 
by  allusion  than  by  similitude  ;  ra- 
ther by  indefinite  and  figurative 
terms,  than  by  any  thing  fixed 
and  determinate.  '■  Eye  hath  not 
seen,  nor  ear  heard,  neither  have 
entered  into  the  heart  of  man 
the  things  which  God  hath  pre- 
pared for  them  that  love  him,'  1st 
Cor.  ii,  9.  What  a  reverence  and 
astonishment  does  this  passage  ex- 
cite in  every  hearer  of  taste  and 
piety !  What  energy,  and  at  the 
same  time  what  simplicity,  in  the 
expression!  How  sublime,  and  at 
the  same  time  how  obscure,  is  the 
imagery  !  Different  was  the  con- 
duct of  Mahomet  in  his  descrip- 


tions of  heaven  and  pai-adise.  Un- 
assisted by  the  necessary  influence 
of  virtuous  intentions  and  Divine 
inspiration,  he  was  neither  desi- 
rous, nor  indeed  able,  to  exalt 
the  minds  of  men  to  sublime  con- 
ceptions, or  to  rational  expecta- 
tions. By  attempting  to  explain 
what  is  inconceivable,  to  describe 
what  is  ineffable,  and  to  mate- 
rialize what  in  itself  is  spiritual, 
he  absurdly  and  impiously  aimed 
to  sensualize  the  purity  of  the  Di- 
vine essence.  Thus  he  fabricated 
a  system  of  incoherence,  a  religion 
of  depravity,  totally  repugnant  to 
the  nature  of  that  Being,  who,  as 
he  pretended,  was  its  object ;  but 
therefore  more  likely  to  accord 
with  the  appetites  and  conceptions 
of  a  corrupt  and  sensual  age. 
That  we  may  not  appear  to  exalt 
our  scriptures  thus  far  above  the 
Koran  by  an  unreasonable  prefer- 
ence, we  shall  produce  a  part  of 
the  second  chapter  of  the  latter, 
which  is  deservedly  admired  by  the 
Mahometans,  who  wear  it  engrav- 
ed on  their  ornaments,  and  recite 
it  in  their  prayers.  '  God !  there 
is  no  God  but  he  ;  the  living,  the 
self-subsisting;  neither  slumber  nor 
sleep  seizeth  him:  to  him  belong- 
eth  whatsoever  is  in  heaven,  and 
on  earth.  Who  is  he  that  can  in- 
tercede with  him  but  through  his 
good  pleasure  ?  He  knoweth  that 
which  is  past,  and  that  which  is 
to  come.  His  throne  is  extended 
over  heaven  and  earth,  and  the 
preservation  of  both  is  to  him  no 
burden.  He  is  the  high,  the 
mighty.'  Sale's  Koran,  v.  ii,  p.  30. 
To  this  description  who  can  refuse 
the  praise  of  magnificence  ?  Part 
of  that  magnificence,  however,  is 


KOR 


470 


KTI 


to  be  referred  to  that  verse  of  the 
psalmist  whence  it  was  borrowed: 
*  He  that  keepeth  Israel  shall  nei- 
ther slumber  nor  sleep,'  Psal.  cxxi, 
4.  But  if  we  compare  it  with  that 
other  passage  of  the  inspired 
psalmist  (Psal.  cii,  24-2r),  all  its 
boasted  grandeur  is  at  once  ob- 
scured, and  lost  in  the  blaze  of  a 
greater  light.  '  O  my  God,  take 
me  not  away  in  the  midst  of  my 
days ;  thy  years  are  throughout 
all  generations.  Of  old  hast  thou 
laid  the  foundation  of  the  earth  ; 
and  the  heavens  are  the  work  of 
thy  hands.  They  shall  perish,  but 
thou  shalt  endure  ;  yea,  all  of 
them  shall  wax  old  like  a  gar- 
ment ;  as  a  vesture  shalt  thou 
change  /them,  and  they  shall  be 
changed.  But  thou  art  the  same, 
and  thy  years  shall  have  no  end.' 
The  Koran,  therefore,  upon  a  fair 


examination,  far  from  supporting 
its  arrogant  claim  to  a  supernatu- 
ral work,  sinks  below  the  level  of 
many  compositions  confessedly  of 
human  original ;  and  still  lower 
does  it  fall  in  our  estimation,  when 
compared  with  that  pure  and  per- 
fect pattera  which  we  justly  ad- 
mire in  the  scriptures  of  ti'uth. 
It  is,  therefore,  abundantly  appa- 
rent, that  no  miracle  either  was 
externally  performed  for  the  sup- 
port, or  is  internally  involved  in 
the  composition  of  the  Maho- 
metan revelation."  See  Sale's  Ko- 
ran ;  Prideaux's  Life  of  Mahomet ; 
White's  Sermons  at  Bampton  Lec- 
tures;  and  article  Mahometan- 
ism. 

KTISTOL  ATRiE,  a  branch  of 
the  Monophysites  which  maintain- 
ed that  the  body  of  Christ  before 
his  resuri'ection  was  corruptible. 


END  OF  VOL.  L 


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BY   THE    REV.  JOHN    GILL,  D.   D. 

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